It was just another normal morning day in the calm region of Sinnoh. The blazing sun peeked over above Mt. Coronet on everyone in the region’s western side, while the east side could enjoy the sight of it rising above the ocean. Flowers and Grass-type Pokemon all turned towards the sun to bathe in its rays. Humans, whether trainers or not, jumped from their beds eager to start a new day; either to come one step closer to becoming the Pokemon Master or to make a living to sustain themselves and their families. Yes, yes, everything was wonderful in the Pokemon World. Ever since a nonchalant duo of trainers which went by the names of Lucas and Dawn defeated Cyrus, Team Galactic’s leader, no crimes had been committed. Some rumors even say the team disbanded. If that was true or not, no one knew. All everyone could be sure of was that life was great. Technology and medicine made progressions people could only imagine possible in dreams 5 years ago. Sinnoh had some 'changes’, such as a few waterways built, energy plants, and much more. Yes. Pokemon and Humans. They were all thankful to be alive. You weren’t the exception.

You are a Pokemon of any specie, living wild and free, able to roam the glorious grounds, or skies, or waters, of glorious Sinnoh. No worries in life. No trouble. No angst. Being able to move freely and untamed to wherever you wanted. No need to earn money, as everything you need could be found easily in trees, or bushes, or water. No need for a home, for even the base of a palm tree could be the best place to spend the night. No need for that technology and medicine every human talks about, because there’s nothing a Lum Berry can’t heal. You are one lucky Pokemon.

Oh, wait, sorry. I mean, you were one lucky Pokemon.

Another merry morning in Sinnoh, and you wake up in hopes of another fabulous day. You stand up and stretch while your still blurry vision doesn’t allow you to recognize the area. After taking a deep breath, you head over to the closest body of water for a drink or a refreshing face wash. But something is different. You feel clumsy all of a sudden, and somehow feel your body has been distortioned. Greatly. ~Maybe it’s just all those Sitrus Berries I ate last night~ you think. But as soon as you take your hand (or fin, or wing, or paw) to your face and rub your eyes you see something. Are... Are those fingers?!

You rush to the water to stare down at your reflection, and guess what. You’re a human.

Now you have got a head with hair, ears, two eyes and ears, one nose, one mouth. Two arms with five fingers and two feet with five toes. But why? Why is this happening? What’s going on? Is this some bad dream or something? No, it’s all real. Taking it easy and meditate for answers, going berserk and destroying everything in your path as you search for answers, or simply burst crying into the ground hoping for someone to save you; no matter what your reaction was, you want answers. And they better get here quick.

The solution to all of your problems, though, lie spread in 16 different locations all over Sinnoh. What does this mean, you ask? Well... Arceus. If anyone had the power to do something as radical as turning Pokemon into Humans, it had to be the Original One. But why would Arceus do that? You have to ask him. And how do you get to him? There are only two ways. The first one, and probably the one everyone knows and beleive it is the only one, is to find and play the mystical Azure Flute. Sure, that sounds easy... Until you realize the Azure Flute it locked away in a Museum that was built in Kanto not too long ago. The item is one of humanity’s most valuable possessions, and it is heavily guarded by all means possible. Team Galactic tried to steal it once. The result? Two-hundred grunts caught and locked into prision. And they couldn’t even reach the room with the flute. The second method, however, is unknown by most.

A legend says that if a person or a group of people with good intentions manage to gather the 16 Elemental plates that are said to contain Arceus’ power, the Alpha Pokemon will be summoned. Maybe finding sixteen items is harder than robbing one. But there is not much of a choice. And not everything’s easy, of course. When team Galactic disbanded, few knew that Cyrus gave his reputation of leader to Saturn, one of the commanders. Saturn, deciding not to follow Cyrus’ footsteps, which he now considered un-fulfilling and miserable, created a new team. Team Andromeda. Andromeda, unlike Galactic and Cyrus itself, didn’t want to ‘remake’ the universe. Andromeda wanted Arceus power to do something else with the universe. They wanted to destroy it. Plain and simple. Maybe after that, they would tell Arceus to create another universe with them as deity. Who knew. They were plain crazy.

Anyway, Team Andromeda knows the secret of the plates too. Cyrus told it to Saturn before disappearing. Such a bad move. Now, not wanting to face the loss and humiliation they faced with the Azure Flute, they are set on getting all 16 plates; and destroy everything and everyone that gets in their way...

Will you, Pokehuman, unveil the secrets of the elemental plates? Can you meet with the others like you and work to achieve a like goal? Can you make friends, both human and Pokemon to aid you in your quest? Can you handle the pressure? Can you deal with carrying the needs of a human? And can you do it before Team Andromeda finds them? Who knows. In the meantime, the only thing characters are asking each other is ‘Dude, where’s my tail?’

Rules

1.- First of all, grammar. Good capitalization is a must. not like this. Not Like This. aNd DefInitElY NoT liKe tHis. Correct spelling of words is very important, too. Yeah, I won’t go berserk by a few typos, but try to keep your posts as ‘clean’ as possible. 2.- Try to make your posts as intricate as possible. Take your time to make a good post, and don’t just rush through happening events. Posts that aren’t good enough will be asked to be edited, and they might get you a warning.3.- All rules of the Roleplaying Forum have to be respected, of course. 4.- There is nothing to add at the end or before yor bio in order to be accepted. 5.- Don’t try to bring up a plot twist or some change into the storyline unless we’ve discussed it previously through PM’s or other means. Also, stay at my pace. If you like to rush through a thread and hop from one important event to the other in one post, then you’ll have to step it down. I’d rather go slowly and explain every single happening with loads of detail instead of moving quickly. 6.- You can fill a Bio Application to joing or go Non-Bio entrance. If you’re filling the Bio, I want a lot of detail. If you’re adding a picture on appearance, you’ll have to complement it with text, too. None of the areas are optional, and even though I haven’t really thought of an entrance limit, maybe I will soon, and I’ll only accept the best applications. If you’re going non-bio, you must include all areas asked for in the Bio application. Also, I’d appreciate you sent it to me through PM before actually posting. If you don’t know what a Non-Bio entrance is, it is when you don’t fill an application, but instead make a post that explains your character and filter it into the plot. You can look at mine for an example. 7.- Try to stay with the group.8.- I will control major happenings, like moving to a different location or finding a plate; or allow you to do so.9.- You can’t catch Pokemon. You will have to rely on socializing skills to have a few Pokemon help you throughout the trip. Pokemon can’t be held inside Pokeballs, because, well, being a PokeHuman, you wouldn’t want to be inside one. 10.- You can’t be a legendary Pokemon11.- Your character must have some physical trait, at least the smallest one, from the Pokemon it once was. But remember you are a human, so no Charizard wings or giant trees sprouting on your back. Just keep it realistic.12.- Only one Human per Pokemon specie. If the Pokemon you wanted to be is already taken, then just choose another one. 13.- Be aware that your characters can’t know anything about this whole situation. So in your first post, don’t go all ‘Oh man, I think Arceus did this. I have to find the plates!’. ‘Kay? Everything will start making sense eventually.

1.- As mentioned in the rules, you character must physically resemble a Pokemon. Also, however, you are allowed to keep a power or abilty of the Pokemon. An example would be a character who was once a Machamp. He could have enhanced strength, but not as much as a real Machamp. Ok? It can’t be something too big, like a fire type Pokemon being able to spit out fire at will, or controlling the element of fire itself. Maybe make temperature rise in the room, or maybe lighting very small flames, but no more. Same goes for water, electric, and such. If you aren’t sure if your power is too much, don’t hesitate to ask.

2.- The location of the plates will be revealed once we’re near one. Though it’ll be pretty obvious when we’re near one, you’ll see ^^.

3.- Characters have to start somewhere around Twinleaf Town.While we’re at the beginning, that is. Later on, if Sign-Ups are still open, the starting Location will change.

4.- The clothes you start with are probably the ones you will be wearing the most, so pick wisely

5.- The OOC. Post your bios over there and discuss or ask anything about the thread.

6.- This takes places in a near future in Sinnoh. As the introduction said, there are a few changes that were made to Sinnoh. A few of this are:The three lakes aren’t open towards visitors anymore and are guarded the 24 hours of the day. Some rumors say this is because the three emotional beings have returned to their locations.Mt. Coronet is now restricted property and is also heavily guarded. In essence, underground paths were built for travelers that need to get across it. One that links Route 207 to Route 208 and anotehr one that links both ends of Route 211. Also, Route 231 was built, and it links Eterna City to Route 216.There is a Pokemon Center in the beggining of Route 217. As in the Anime, Pokemon Centers supply free food and lodging.All of Sinnoh’s electricity is now produced by small Solar Panels distributed all over the region. Before this, however, a large Power Plant was built east of Route 221 on a small island. New-built routes 232 and 233 were linked to Route 212 for easy access. Those routes lead to the Power Plant, but is now desolated and torn down. Many have suffered accidents exploring because either they were caught by a loose cable or an explosion on the structure emerged. Why it hasn’t been demolished yet is unknown.Some of the strongest Pokemon of all regions, as well as the largest ones, are now almost exclusive to an artificial island called Dragon Island. The island is located east of Snowpoint city, and access to the island is only given to the strongest trainers of the region.Iron Island is still open for visitors, though there is no ship service that provides access to the island now. This is because the island was struck by a potent hurricane and the insides are now all torn up and flooded. Many Pokemon species still inhabit there, however.In the south east part of the Region, a mysterious island appeared out of nowhere. People that try to reach it never come back, or so the myth says. Some expect it to be Team Andromeda’s hidden base.

Other changes are going to be added as the story progresses. Need to think of something xD For now, this changes are going to be present in this Sinnoh map presented below.

Bio sheet: (It’s pretty simple and direct)Name: (No last names are needed, ‘cause you’re Pokemon. Try to check the character list before picking a name so you don’t copy anyone.)Apparent age: (The age your character looks like as a human)Pokemon Specie: (493 Different Pokemon minues 35 Legendaries= 458 Pokemon from which to pick)Ability/Power: (Described in RPG Info)

Appearance: (As a human. You can also tell your appearance as Pokemon, but unless the character had something that differentiated, there’s no real need to include Pokemon appaearance. We all know how Pokemon look like. Clothing and accesories are to be put here)Personality: (Simple enough)

History: (Simple, too)Other: (Something else you want to add)

Character List: (User/Character Name/Specie/Age)

Diegoyayi/ NightSlash/ Absol♂/ 18

Current Missions! (What's everyone doing; or supposed to do ;D)-Thread is starting. Start your character out somewhere around Twinleaf Town and start interrogating yourself or something. Soon we'll start getting the characters to meet each other.

Here goes my intro (a more detailed personality and history will be revealed at the story progresses) and the RP’s first post. Post away!

“Run! Run, guys! There’s no time to lose! We can’t stay here!”

It was a cloudy, gloomy day in Iron Island, the once prosperous ore mine that was now completely dry of ore. The gray clouds casted their reflection upon the surface of the waters surrounding the island; and the wind, which seemed to be harshening every passing second, produced waves that were growing in size continuously. Trainers inside the mine and hikers on the outside were doing their everyday activities ignoring the fact that the weather was quite blunt. “Just another forlorn day...” The humans repeated to each other and to their Pokemon as they continued to do their jobs. A Machop and Machoke stared at each other worried. This didn’t feel like another sad day. There was something strange about today. The two Pokemon, however, couldn’t help but to move along with their trainer. In the inside of the mine, the workers swung their maces and pickaxes with great strength at the rocks, hoping to extract minerals and ore to make a living.

“It is feeling sorta chilly, eh, Jonah?” A man with a rough build said to another one as he picked up a large rock in his arms. “You said it, comrade!” The man who went by the name of Jonah replied. “Have you found anything good yet? I’ve been having such a bad luck today”. “Tell me ‘bout it.” As the two men continued to work, one stopped abruptly as he heard a splashing sound when he gave a step forward. The two men looked down at their feet and noticed water was filtering to the insides of the mine. “Water?” One inquired to himself. “How did water get into the cave? Is there a leak or something? Not even a drop of water has touched this grounds since that flood centuries ago. Could it.. No, it’s impossible...”

Back on the outside, a hiker was sitting down on a boulder enjoying his lunch. The man was weary and old, as well as overweight and with excess body hair. After eating two of his three rice balls, he pulled out a bottle of water that had juice in it. He removed the lid and then placed the lid on the ground. As soon as he did this, though, the lid was blown away with an immense strength in a spiraling motion. “Huh?..” The hiker asked himself as he stared at the lid flying away. Just then, his hat was torn away from his head and sent flying in the exact same direction and motion as the lid; and then the water bottle did the same, spilling all of the contained juice. “What’s going on?!” The hiker asked out loud as he saw his items being blown away. He stood up and started to walk away, but before he could give more than 10 steps, a sound called his attention. The sound was that one produced by small rocks being kicked away. “Who’s there!!” the man exclaimed angry. It was pretty obvious, though, that the angst was being produced because the man was at the same time very scared and nervous. After exclaiming his question, an Absol jumped from behind the rocks.

“You have to get out of here! There is no time to lose! Warn everyone! You have to leave right now!”

That was everything the Absol was trying to say. His voice was strained, like if it had been a very strenuous task to climb up to the mountain where the hiker was. The so-called disaster Pokemon was panting heavily. His legs were shaking and gave the appearance they were about to break. His eyes were almost closed, signaling his inevitable need for rest. Despite the Pokemon gave the sings of not wanting to cause danger or hurt to anyone, the hiker had a shocked expression on his face when he saw the Pokemon. “It! It is an Absol! The Disaster Pokemon! He is causing all of this! He is the one responsible for the tough winds and tides! I can’t stay here!”

The voice tone in which the hiker said this expressed ridiculous amounts of worry; like if his heart was about to explode. Struggling to breathe because of how loud he yelled the past few sentences, the man threw his steel lunchbox at the Absol, then ran away to the bottom of the mount. The metallic box struck the Absol on his left shoulder. A critical hit. The sharpened edge of the object pierced into the Pokemon, causing large amounts of excruciating pain. “Agh!” The Pokemon yelped as he fell to the ground. That hit didn’t at all aid his need to rest. “I do not... Cause the disasters...!” The Absol exclaimed in a mixture of raging and sad emotions. To everyone, though, it just sounded like ‘Absol! Sol, Sol, Ab!’ Everyone hated him. Everyone always ran away before he could explain anything. Why couldn’t they understand Absol didn’t cause the disasters? They tried to warn everyone about them, so that was why the always appeared near one. But that’s the story of his life. Whenever he tried to make a ‘friend’, everyone ran away. He had grown lonely because of that, but he was still caring, nevertheless. The Pokemon had no energy left to move, so his lied there on the ground, staring at the lunchbox that would cause a cyclone to engulf him.

Meanwhile, as the hiker ran down, he stared to a side to notice his nightmare becoming real. As he expected, a large tornado formed in the distance, size and speed increasing as he swallowed water and clouds and everything else it came near. Magikarp and Goldeen were seen spiraling inside the twister, along with a had, a bottle cap and a bottle. “No!!” The hiker told himself as he quickened his pace. In the docks, the sailor responsible for taking all hikers and miners there stared in awe at the incoming cyclone. “People!” The Sailor yelled worried. “Hurry up! If we don’t leave now, we aren’t making it back!!”

The hiker, which was now approaching the boat, stopped and stared at the entrance of the mine. In a rush of heroism, he walked inside and then yelled loudly: “Guys! We have to get out of here, now! There is an Absol on this island! He brought a typhoon over! We are going to die here if we don’t make it back to the boat right now! Let’s go!!”In the bottom of the mines, Jonah and his friend were struggling to make it back up. The water that was once just a thin layer on the ground was now up to their waist. “Jonah! Let’s move! Hurry!”. “I can’t! The water doesn’t allow me to move! I’m too heavy! We’re not making it!”

Back at the docks, the sailor only stared at the hiker that was warning the other men. “Oh, you know what, I warned them. I’m not dying!!!” The sailor’s voice tone now sounded like it came from someone with dementia. After saying this, the sailor rushed to the captain’s cabin and started the boat. Before anyone could said “Wait!”, the boat rushed away to mainland, and the dock was destroyed as a giant boulder fell from the top of the mountain and right above it. “Noo!!” The hiker said as he stared at the boat go away. A tear then ran down his eye. It was all over for him and the other men. It was obvious. He stared up and saw the Absol, which was nearly dead, and yelled something at him. “You.. Stupid thing!” After yelling this, the hiker stared down at the mines. Below him, a pit with sharp stalagmites stood. “That cyclone is not killing me...”. In an act of extreme desperation, the man took walked to the edge and then took a step into oblivion.

“Stupid thing... I’ve been called worse.” The Absol thought as he heard the tornado approaching. “This... This is over, I guess.” He said to himself with a sigh as he closed his eyes, feeling how a strong current of wind dragged him through the ground.

“It’s over...”

~Gah... Ow... My head... Ow....Ick!~

In the middle of Twinleaf Town, a male figure of apparent 18 or 19, years was lying sitting down asleep, resting his back on the signpost placed in the middle of the very small town. He seemed to be really tired, for his position, which appeared to be rather uncomfortable, didn’t at all cause him to wake up. Out of the blue, however, the figure opened his eyes in shock and stared around the area cautiously. “Whe... Where am I...” He spoke, then immediatly he stood up. “Wow... I don’t remember being this tall” he whispered to himself as he continued to stare around. He turned back and saw a signpost, which would obviously tell him where he was. If only he could read. After a failing attempt at decoding what the signpost said, the guy stared down in disappointment. What he saw at that moment confused him to no end. He saw a waist... And legs... And feet. “Wha...” He said to himself as he then noticed he also had arms and hands. “No way... Wha.. G... Ahhh!” He desperately ran to the body of water located directly in front of him, the one at the end of TwinLeaf. When he got there, he stared down at the water and realized that, effectively, he was now a human.

He stood at around 6’0, with his body frame being slender and with slightly elongated limbs. His body had almost no fat on it, and his slightly marked muscles were visible through his somewhat tan skin that revealed a slightly reddish tone on his arms and face. His face was relatively round, and all of his facial features were small. His eyes were tinged with a very deep blue color which can go by black if you don’t stop to examine them carefully. In the nights, under the light of the moon, his eyes change to a light red color, much like the ones of an Absol. His nose was small, too, and his lips were thin and had a rosy color. His hair was slightly long and messy, and it was completely white and clean. The hair in his arms, which was quite scarce, was white too; but his eyebrows were black. On his right temple, right where Absols have their ‘scythe’, there is a small, gray, circular mark. For attire, every piece of clothing on him was black. He wore a plain black T-shirt with no apparent design or image on it. He also wore plain black pants that had an expensive looking, white gold chain hanging on the right side. On his feet he wore black combat boots, and over his shirt he wore a black, thin, leather jacket. His nails also seemed to be painted with a permanent black nail polish. Finally, on his left wrist he wore a black rubber bracelet.

“What happened?!?!?” The male exclaimed as he leaped back a bit, horrified at the image he had just seen in the water. In shock, he continued to take a few steps backward as he thought many things to himself. ~Is that me?! What happened? I was a Pokemon! Ok, Ok.. Relax.. Let’s take a moment to think. My name.. My name is NightSlash, but others called me Slash for short. I was an Absol and I.. I...!~ Slash was pulled out of his thoughts when, as he walked backwards, his back hit a tree. Slash took his hands to his butt in a hurry and then asked the most important question he had ever asked himself or anyone as he felt the whole world break down upon his shoulders.

“Dude... Where’s my tail?”.

~Ok Slash, calm down... This is just a nightmare of some sort~ The desperate PokeHuman reiterated to himself in thought. Words can’t describe how scared he felt. His skin was turning each time more pale and his legs shook in pain. But Slash knew that being scared would take him nowhere. ~So I was an Absol.. And... And... Every disliked me. I had always been a gentle, courteous, and concerning Pokemon, but my fame of bringing natural disasters never allowed me to socialize with anyone. I... I can’t remember my parents, and I raised myself in the wilderness by myself. I have been in the brink of being captured by humans by many time, but always fought my way through it. I’ve explored Sinnoh since I was little, for I have no place to call home. I’ve always been a traveler and I do it alone. Being a Dark-Type, I’d much rather be active under the moon that below the sun rays, but I have to move, nevertheless. I...~ Here, Slash stopped using words to describe himself and just concentrated on recalling images and memories. He could see himself as an Absol barking lonely at the new moon; running away from tough fighting type Pokemon that threatened to end his existence because their human trainers tricked them into believing Absol caused natural disasters; and even helping out wounded Pokemon he found while traveling, offering them food, deeply listening to everything the Pokemon had to say, and even offer advice sometimes. You know, trying to be a friend.

But before Slash could continue, he was interrupted by a loud growl emanating from his stomach. ~I... Meh, it doesn’t matter... No matter how hard I try, I can’t remember an event that turned me into a human... I’m hungry. I wish I had something to eat.~ As he thought this, Slash hit the back of his head slightly on the tree he was reclining on; and despite it didn’t have the look of a fruit bearing tree, two apples hit the floor as he did. Apparently, his Super Luck ability was still with him. ~Oh, rad!~ Slash thought to himself as he bent down to pick the two fruits, then went over to the water to wash them. As the fresh water moved in undulated motions and passed his hands and the fruit, NightSlash couldn’t help but to sigh to himself and whisper something.

“What is happening... What is this all about... Why me? What is the point? Are there others like me? Who did this? What am I supposed to do? I don’t know. But freaking out isn’t going to solve anything... Calm down, Slash. Take is easy...”

Too many interrogatives, not enough answers. After washing the two fruits, Slash stood back up, facing the exit of the town, which led to Route 201. Slash took a very profound breath and stared at the route, wondering what he should do. “I guess there is only one way to find out answers to all of my questions...”

Last edited by Diεgo on Tue Jun 21, 2011 3:57 am; edited 1 time in total

Appearance: Venomous, once an Umbreon of extreme elegance, one whose sleek, ebony coat shone the brightest of all the Umbreons on moonlit nights, had always taken for granted her ability to blend in with the shadows, and make her presence unknown. When she awoke as a Human girl, she was astounded to find pale ivory skin white as the snow, and not only that, but incredibly sensitive to sunlight. Upon awakening in mid-afternoon, Venomous was incredulous to find herself immersed in what felt like a blanket of fire, but what was really a series of light sunburns gracing her long, slender arms, from her upper arms all the way down to her tiny, doll-like hands. Venomous would discover her fingernails painted, simultaneously black and bright yellow. Her eyes, upon checking her new Human reflection in a pool of shallow water, would find that only her eyes had remained the same as in her Pokemon form, being a somber crimson red, eyes so bone chilling in hue and appearance that they would freeze anyone who gazed into them too long right in their tracks. Her lips, the smallest and thinnest of her features, would be an irregular shade of red, not quite so dark as her startling red eyes, but dark enough to be discredited for a regular fleshy tone. Though they were darker than the typical human's, it was quite obvious that she wore no make-up whatsoever, save for a dark line beneath her eyes, a permanent eyeliner. Her hair, the same ebony shade as her fur once was, appears to have a mind of its own, cascading wildly down all the way to her waist. Slightly wavy and incredibly thick, Venomous has found that even such a simple thing as pulling it back into a Ponytail proves to be a tedious task. Though her hair has proven itself unmanagable, it is something Venomous will come to treasure, for its exotic beauty, and not only that, but the way it shines and glows particularly when under moonlight. On a side note, Venomous' wily mane isn't completely solid black. At night, several bright yellow tendrils stand out amid the monotone mass, but strangely enough vanish come daylight. Upon her forehead, in the place where a normal Umbreon sports a perfect, circular yellow ring, Venomous sports that same, bright familiar ring, and it shines, dully but still noticeable in daylight, and brilliantly at night, so much that anyone and everyone who happens to catch a glimpse of it can hardly stand the sight. Her attire consists of a form-hugging tight black silken dress, one that appears as a tight leathery corset from bust to upper abdomen, and is fringed at the top and bottom with gauzy material, and has the discreet shape of a crescent moon carved into the front. The bottom of the dress billows out, in a pleated shirt that falls only to about mid-thigh, and is plain save for an enormous black bow placed on the back of it, just above her waist, but serves no purpose in the overall design on her dress, being just a decoration. Her entire thighs are visable, but starting just above her knees, Venomous wears socks that are ringed simultaneously with black and yellow, just like her socks. Upon her feet are soft, black boots that run up to mid-calf, plain save for imprints of Houndoom up near the top. Upon her back, she wears a cute, tiny backpack in the shape of a Chibi Absol, its mouth stretched wide open in a roar. Inside the backpack, Venomous was incredibly confused to find a large, soft plushie. A Buizel, and nothing else, for not much else can fit inside it.

Personality: Venomous tends to have the personlity of your stereotypical Umbreon, sort of quiet, contemplating. The majority of conversations she has is internal, and with herself. When conversing with another, she prefers for them to make the initial interaction, with her slowly warming and loosening up to them as she gets to know them better. When someone gets particularly close to her, they will realize that Venomous is quite talkative, and will constantly bring up things that most people would consider unusual and out of the ordinary.. She has quite a curious mind, and is always considering new possibilities, questioning everything silently to herself. She rarely ever shares these thoughts and opinions with anyone else, though, for due to the way she was brought up, she has a sceret silent fear that no one would take interest in them.. No one would care one way or the other what she thought, or more importantly.. what she felt. If anyone would listen, and listen closely, they would find that Venomous is incredibly emotional, even moody at times, but has a heart of solid gold. She doesn't wish for much, just for someone like her, someone who understands her, and prays every night that they will appear to her one day soon. Venomous hasn't always been such a brooding Pokemon. It has only been due to a recent series of events that have molded her into this shy, wary Pokemon. As an Eevee, she was sweet, and clever, and most importantly, blissfully happy. The potential to revert back to this way is still present, the hard part is getting Venomous to believe it.

History: Venomous was born by rather ordinary means, as most, if not all cpative Pokemon are born, extracted as a mere egg from the Solaceon Town Daycare. Her to-be trainer, a budding young teenage Pokemon enthusiast by the name of Dante Itachi, had finally collected enough prize money from his one and only fixated passion, Pokemon Contests. He used it to place his two prize-winning Espeons, who would come to be known as Venomous' parents, in the Solaceon Town Daycare for breeding, in hopes that their beauty could be combined to create a much faster, more beautiful Eevee. One perfect in every way. It would have not only exceptional charm, but speed, and also strength as well. It would be his champion Espeon, one who could not only dazzle the judges and crowds with its superb looks in the first round on contests, but who would excel in the battling portion as well, and not only that, but prove superior in Gym battles and tag team battles of every variety. Yes, he sought out to create the perfect Pokemon. Weeks went by, and Dante must have received what were hundred of eggs containing little Eevees. But upon hatching each and every one of them, to his dismay, he discovered that one had an ear that bent at an odd shape, one wasn't perky enough, this one wasn't initially fast enough, this one's sheen was off.. And so one by one, instead of the hatched Eevees receiving a new partner, a new best friend and trainer to battle alongside with, they were all carelessly tossed away, all released into the thick grassland that surrounded Solaceon, near the mouth of the dark caves notoriously housing only Unown, and left to fend for themselves. Dante hadn't planned for such a failure in his plan, in fact, he had been planning to be able to keep the majority of the funds he had accumulated, but soon this proved false as well as they were all squandered away on his Espeons' stay at the Daycare.. pumping out egg after egg, never quite producing the perfect Eevee.. Finally, Dante decided to admit defeat, and withdraw his Espeons, who were exhausted in both body and mind by this point, as all this breeding was getting them nowhere. It wasn't necessarily the fatigue of his Espeons he was concerned about, shamelessly enough. It was the cash flow.. which had quite rapidly begun to diminish from his pocket. With his two precious Pokemon at the Daycare, breeding for the time-being, Dante hadn't any way to earn an income, and could barely afford to feed himself anymore, much less keep paying for his Espeons to breed. So on the eve of Christmas, he set out to retrieve his pets, no, not because he had a sack full of Christmas toys for them. But because there was a contest the next day, a Christmas-themed contest up in Snowpoint to celebrate the holidays. Of course, Dante had hastily arranged to make an appearance up there, for a shot to win the cash prize which, because this Contest was a special celebration, doubled normal cash prizes. When Dante extracted his dear Espeons from the Daycare, he was surprised to see Sona, his female Espeon, standing guard over an egg. Removing it from her, he smiled a bit sadly to see that it was the very last one. He seriously considered heaving it into Lake Acuity, but then decided to keep it.. (What the heck?) And just release it as soon as it hatched. The hike to Snowpoint took longer than expected, and was more than enough time for the lone egg to hatch. It did, the next morning, just as Dante was approaching the isolated town of Snowpoint, coincidentally, and hatched into a beautiful, petite little Eevee. This Eevee was like no other. She radiated an obvious joy, and love already for the life she had yet to experience. Her cries were shrill, and enthusiastic, typical of a baby Eevee, any Eevee really, and she had a certain glow about her that Dante had never seen more eminent in his entire life. Not only this, but her eyes were perfectly straight, and just the right distance apart, her eyes weren't oddly colored, and the thick fur ringing her thin little neck was more of a silky texture than actual furriness. Not only this, but she ran like the wind, and had great endurance for an Eevee of her age and size, as to Dante's surprise, she raced him the remainder of the way to Snowpoint upon bursting from her eggshell confinement, and actually won! Dante finally had the Eevee he had been hoping for, had been dreaming for. She would someday make a swift, beautiful Espeon, just like her mother and father before her, and would not only win him appeals in contests, but prove boss in the battle division as well. And as for the Eevee, she was treated like a Queen. Never made to walk if she didn't want to, instead being carried by Dante himself, set down on the ground only when training: Be it battling, or running.. She was fed first of his three Pokemon, and when running on the last of their supplies, ate even before him. Venomous was the name given to the sweet little Eevee, and she thought that she was in love. She thought that she would love Dante, the trainer who showered her with affection and attention forever. And Dante thought that he would love the Eevee forever, even more when she actually evolved for him.. And it was nearing that time.. One night, as Venomous lay curled up against a sleeping Dante beneath the stars, her pure heart bubbled over with so much combined happiness and love, that she vowed to do whatever made Dante happiest. A tiny grin on her mischevious furry little face, she stared up at the full moon, which was becoming increasingly more and more beautiful to her with each passing second. As she was enveloped with love, obviously smitten with her trainer, she felt what could only be described as a sudden "burst" in her happiness, to which a faint glowing was produced from her tiny body, and she seemed to be morphing of sorts.. When Dante awoke, he was horrified to discover not his precious little Eevee standing before him, but a new creature, a darker creature.. A black creature, shining faintly with bright yellow rings. He couldn't believe this was his adorable little Venomous.. until he stared deep within those eyes, those eyes that had shifted so far beyond recognition as well, and noticed a familiar light in them.. A familiar light of love for him. Still, it didn't matter to Dante. All was ruined, all hope was lost.. His plans, his hopes, his dreams for that Pokemon.. were all gone.. all lost.. and there was no way to reverse what she had become. In a rage, Dante hurled his bag at her, and Venomous, caught off-guard, was knocked forceably to the ground. Before she had the time to recover, as since she was an Umbreon now, she was much slower than what she had been.. Dante was at her side, ranting on about how stupid she was for letting the evolution occur.. How she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.. How she would regret it.. And the most deafening blow to the Umbreon.. how much he hated her. His love had been fickle all along, and this was what tore the Umbreon apart the most. Not the merciless blows he pounded upon her bruised bones and flesh, not all the blood he had spilled from her body.. Not how she was never given food, EVER, and how when she had it, it was only due to the occaisional kindness of her parents, who were both happy to be back in Dante's original favor. Still, Dante would not release the Umbreon. He kept her for battle, to take all the blows of the other Pokemon, to protect his Espeons at whatever cost, no matter how much pain she was in, and the more damage they received from the opponent's attacks, the harder she was beaten. Venomous was miserable for a time, crying on the inside, bleeding on the out.. She had fallen into the deepest pit of despair. But soon, her raw wounds, both physical and emtional healed, and as he could never quite manage to kill her, she only became stronger. Or so she thought. She learned to control her emotions, and her displeasure for whatever she was forced into doing for him. She learned.. To be the protector, and not the protected. But more than anything.. she learned.. that she was the lowest of the low, and that any amout of kindness shown toward her.. was definitely not deserved. And so she became unattached, unattached to everything and everyone living in this world.. This little Umbreon knew what it was to be an outcast, an unfulfilled failure, and wondered why the great God Arceus had even wasted his energy creating her. But as she would soon come to know, her purpose was alot greater than she or Dante could ever even have imagined.

Special ability: Venomous' special ability is somewhat similar to the attack "Moonlight", which she knew as a Pokemon. This gives her healing abilities, not only for herself, but for others. There is, however, a catch to these extraordinary abilities. The abilities seem to strengthen significantly at night, and are most effective under he light of the full moon. During day, however, that in which makes the dark types weaker, Venomous' powers are barely visable, and only extend to being able to hear minor cuts and bruises, sometimes small gashes. When directly under the sunlight, she has no powers whatsoever.

Roleplay sample:

"Venomous, come out, NOW!"

The Umbreon cringed upon hearing the sound of her own name, the very name she couldn't remember ever being said in anything less than a tone of ferocity. It had been so long.. So long since he had said it with soft affection, with the gentle kindness he had never in the past been hesitant to lavish on her. Within the dark confines of her Pokeball, which the Umbreon hadn't left for days, for maybe a week even, she became aware of a deep rumbling sound, ahd hearing this, she winced, slender ears flying back behind her head as her eyes squeezed shut.

It's been.. too long this time.. She thought to herself, knowing that there was no need to utter these words aloud. She was practically faint with hunger, yet she knew the reason her trainer was calling her out wasn't to satiate her. Shaking her ebony coat out, the Umbreon lowered her head submissively, crouching down into the battle stance Dante had come to expect from her each time she made an outside appearance. As Venomous was sucked from the circular device, and began to materialize, she was suddenly struck by a defeaning blow. The Umbreon was knocked immediately backward, crimson eyes falling uncontrollably shut as she was thrust painfully against the ground. Her ears twitched in the slightest as she picked up the sound of cheering coming from several feet away, and then.. the voice. The chilling, frozen voice..

"Get up, NOW!" Thin side heaving harshly, Venomous again staggered to her feet, crimson eyes narrowing downward in concentration, her head bowing toward the ground as she leapt immediately forward, hoping that though she was obviously not the fastest Pokemon on the field, she could make up for lost ground.

"Bre!" She called out defiantly, the breath still escaping her parted lips in gasps that were ragged, and irregular. From somewhere behind her, off to her left, out of the corner of her eye, Venomous caught a brief glimpse of the form of an Espeon. Her mother..? Her father..? She couldn't tell. And she dared not turn her head around to look all the way, for she knew what the dire consequences would be..

"Venomous! Use Moonlight!"

"Bre?!" The Umbreon questioned hopefully, eyes shining with a look of surprise as she glanced behind her to stare at her trainer, the very tip of her tail beginning to wag in the slightest. Her heart practically skipped a beat as she attempted to register within her mind what Dante was saying.. But she hadn't the time to get all mushy and sentimental. Judging from how fast the opposing Pokemon had struck her when she had just emerged from the Pokeball, she barely had any time to lose. Venomous braced herself, and summoning up the last smidgeon of energy she had, she threw her head back to gaze up at the.. SUN?! Venomous moaned loudly in pain as the blazing light reflected within her eyes, and seeming to notice the glowing ball of heat for the first time, she glanced behind her in confusion, to which Dante was giggling insanely, keeled over, pudgy hands pressed against a stomach to match.

Master...?! She thought wildly, knees buckling under the extreme source of heat, her chest seeming to spasm violently as the rays shone against her body, penetrating her being, and boiling her to the core.

Master.. She thought weakly, collapsing to the soft grass beneath her, as unable to take the harsh light of day any longer, she twtiched uselessly, a cold sweat of poison breaking out across her sleek body, oozing from the pores of her skin, and washing over her, a sickening purple wave of acid. Venomous cringed, being too weak to actually shake the acidic venom from her fur, and simply just lying there, helplessly in the grass, flinching harshly as the poison ate away at her stilled body.

What.. What's happening..? She thought, of course to which no one would reply. No one would ever reply. Upon seeing the thin film of poison accumulate upon his Umbreon's body, the boy smirked, the corners of his think lips curling up menacingly as he only began to laugh harder.

"What's the matter, Venomous? A bit too Venomous for your own taste? Gawd, I didn't know what in hell I was thinking when I chose that name. It would've made no sense at all had you become what I wanted.. But now, i'm glad I did. It suits you."

The laughter sounded again, and this time, the Espeon at the boy's side joined in along with him, Her mother, Venomous now knew from the short, high-pitched squeals. Venomous' eyes squeezed shut, and the heat and light was so intense upon her fallen body, she couldn't help but squeeze out a couple of crystal tears. The laughter was getting it to her.. The laughter at her pain, the laughter at her utter misery.. The misery she had been putting up with for years, now. Or maybe it wasn't just the laughter. The laughter combined with her sickening pain, much more than just incovenience and discomfort, at being forced to lay beneath the merciless sun.

The..battle.. She thought between gasps, wondering faintly what had happened to the Pokemon who had just tackled her to the ground.. The cheering coming from just several feet away.

"Kai!" Dante interrupted, turning with a grin away from Venomous, and instead motioning over to who Venomous could only assume was her father.

But that wasn't.. possible. Venomous knew for certain that she was always called out as a last resort, a defense mechanism for when either her mother or father were fainted in more difficult battles.

A tank.. That's all I am to him. She thought with a sigh of exasperation. I come out, ready to protect him, and them.. And that's all I am. All i'll ever be.. A tank.. Dented, scratched, bruised... No matter.. I'm solid. Nothing can take me down.. But that doesn't mean.. that it hurts me.. any less.

With this, Venomous just let her dainty head drop to the ground. The tears kept coming, however, and now fell from closed lids to trickle down her face, and into the lush carpet of grass she now lay upon.

"Kai! Use Dig!"

Venomous had no time to react before her acute ears picked up a heavy scratching sound, the tell-tale noise of something burrowing deep underground. Her brow shot quickly up, and as Venomous struggled to remove herself from harm's way, the earth cracked beneath her, giving way to a slender, lilac figure, who lifted her sleek form with just a toss of his feline-like head, tossing her several feet into the air before she came crashing back down, harshly on her right side. As her limp form made contact with the rocky earth, an immense cracking sound was heard as coming from her, and as she let her mouth fall open to release a pained cry, she received a swift kick to the head.

"You... shut up, or i'll make your death ten times worse! That's what you'd like, Venomous, huh? I know the way you think.. I know the way you look at me.. with hate in your eyes.. after I fed you, I cared for you, I never let your dainty-ass paws even touch dirt! And all for this. ..What a waste of my time.."

Letting off only a sneer of disgust, Dante gave but a single backward wave to the limp form of his Umbreon, beginning to walk in the direction he had seemingly just come.

"Sona.. Kai.." With this, Dante's gaze fell upon Venomous one final time, and he sighed, shaking his head back and forth at the pitiful sight, not feeling one ounce of remorse as he simply just turned his chilling gaze elsewhere, brushing an ebony strand of hair from his icey eyes and beginning to walk slowly away from the three Pokemon.

"Finish her off.." The Espeons' pale eyes gleamed with delight., to which they chuckled at one another, licking their lips as they loomed overtop the helpless Umbreon, bodies trembling with anticipation as they moved in for the final kill...

Last edited by Umbreongirl on Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:14 am; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : Laziness)

Powers - Being so young both twins have minimal actual “powers”, they do have a nasty bite attack though and once they’ve bitten you and grabbed a hold it’s pretty damn hard to get them off. They also bite hard enough to draw blood, so be careful of their mean chompers!

Personality - Mischief is one word to describe the young duo. They will often cause trouble wherever they go, regardless if it affects the other members of the group or no. They are both fairly happy characters always optimistic about the future, but they can be a bit naïve because they’re so young and aren’t accustomed to the ways of the world yet. Their views are very black and white as well, to them there is no “middle ground”, it is right or wrong, good or bad, and they have not learned the “grey area” yet. They also tend to be very shy around strangers; such is the nature of a small child. Haruki and Haruko also have very active imaginations, often making up stories on a whim and often have several odd superstitious beliefs.

They aren’t all bundles of happy go-lucky joy however, temper tantrums come fairly easily to them and the matter of their deceased mother is still a very delicate subject. The death of their mother has given them one unique quirk, they will grow attached to the most promenade female influence in their lives, and adopt her as their surrogate mother whether the women likes it or not. Once they bond you with you they stick to you like glue. They have had many surrogate mothers in their lifetime, and most have abandoned them, brushing them off as a nuisance.

The two often sing songs as a hobby, and are quite good at it , but they are often morbid and macabre in nature and when ask where they learned such morbid songs they simply say, "It's a secret!"

History – Haruki and Haruko weren’t always orphans, they did have a mother once, a female flareon, their father never being in the picture because he disappeared after mating was over (which is often customary for wild animals). The two loved their mother more than anything else, she taught them many things, but the thing they loved most about their mother was her soft warmfur that they often snuggled up in during those cold, winter nights.

Their happiness was short lived because shortly after they turned (in human years) their mother was tragically killed in a battle with a trainer with a ferociously strong Umbreon. Their mother had done her best to protect her to young kits by telling them to hide in the nest until she was done fighting off the intruder to their nest but that battle would mortally wound her, leaving the two twins to fend for themselves.

Ever since then it had been a struggle for survival for the two and they soon looked to other female Pokemon to be their surrogate mother, but it always turned out the same. If the Pokemon weren’t your legitimate kin, abandon them. The two bounced from surrogate to surrogate only to be abandoned time after time, which bring us to present day, where they mysteriously wake up as humans!

“Nnnngh,” Haruki mumbled trying to find a comfortable position, something didn’t seem right, the grass wasn’t as comfortable as usual, and it was itchy and uncomfortable. The tiny Eevee opened her eyes, sat up and stretched. Her brother was still fast asleep and snoring quite loudly.

Haruki yawned again an unconsciously approached the lake. The two had decided to crash near the lake for the night because the sound of the waves had soothed their nerves. The Eevee stuck her head in the water and sat back up, still half-asleep, she hadn’t noticed she was considerably taller than usual, and her limbs were much longer than usual.

“Nyaa….Why am I so uncomfortable? Did I roll in poison ivy again…?” Her voice was cracking from having just woken up, she stuck her head back in the water again but it was when pulling her head out a second time and looking at her reflection did she notice something strange, “UWAHHHHHHHH!” She cried and fell backwards in horror. Her face was human! She examined her body from head to toe; she had the body of a human! “W-what’s going on?!” She yelled in shock, which only shocked her more. She could speak human words!

She quickly ran back to her brother, he too, had been turned in to a human. She ran to his side and shook him forcefully, “Haruko, Haruko wake up! Something strange is going on!”

“Nnnnngh, just five more minutes, Haruki….” He swatted her away with his new human hand.

The girl puffed out her cheeks and yelled, “HARUKO WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!” This made the boy shoot straight up out of shock and turn to her and glare.

“What the heck Haruki?! Why are you so loud—HOLY MOTHER OF ARCEUS!” He cried falling back and stared at in shock, “You...you’re human!” Her twin brother cried in shocked.

She nodded and then pointed at him and said, “You are too!” The two stared in horror for a moments and then both let out screams of horror and started crying, “Uwaaaaaah! What’s going onnnn!” the two both said in unison, and they were both in tears. This had caught the attention of two guards who had been standing guard nearby.

“I heard something, sounds like two children crying,” One guard said curiously to his partner who chuckled.“Like two kids could get past the guard gate,” His partner laughed, “But we’d better investigate,” The first guard nodded and looked around, and was utterly surprised to find to children who appeared to be only around the age of 8 crying loudly near the lake.

Oh and the fact that they were completely butt naked raised another issue.

“Oi, what are you two doing out here? And why are you…uh…naked?” One of the guards looked at the two curiously, he could only assume that these two had been neglected and then abandoned, little did he know so much more was going on.

The two twins continued to scream loudly, not noticing the adults. The two guards sighed and shook their heads, “Call Twinleaf CPS to come pick the kids up, they’ll start a search on these two kid’s parents,” One guard said to his partner who nodded and pulled out a PokeGear.

“Yes, two abandoned children by Lake Verity, that’s right, might want to bring a spare change of clothes, they’re naked,” The guard said calmly in to the phone, his partner approached the two wailing children.

“Now, now why are you crying?” He said calmly, he knew they were probably frightened and lonely, Haruki only responded with a sniffle and then continued to cry uncontrollably. The guard sighed and figured it was best to wait for CPS to come pick the two children up. It wouldn’t take long considering how close Twinleaf was to the lake.

Little did the guard know that there was much more going on than any one person could explain.--------

CPS had come fairly quickly, a little under ten minutes and they were there with towels for the two children to wrap around themselves, Haruki wasn’t sure how she felt about all this, after all they weren’t really humans, why should they be taken in to custody if they weren’t even human?

The thing was, they looked exactly human, there was no trace of Pokemon gene’s in their look aside from their brown hair and crystal blue eyes. One thing did catch her interest however, through her hiccups and sobs she heard the social worker talking behind their backs…

“They have tails….What kind of monstrosity are they?” The child worker muttered to the guard, cause Haruki to subtly glare at her. So she still had her Eevee tail? Well that was all fine and good, she liked her tail it would be a helpful reminder that she was a Pokémon, not human.

But for now she was some half-human, half-Pokémon hybrid freak.

“Come now, little kids, let’s get you a bath and some fresh clothing….” The child worker said with a hint of nervousness in her voice, you could tell she was uncomfortable around the two. She was treating them like they were some kind of disease that would kill you.

“Haruko, she is clearly a bad person, I don’t like her,” Haruki whispered to her twin brother as they followed the lady to the car. What made her so high and mighty; she had no right to act like they were beneath her. It ticked Haruki off to be quite honest, she had always been much more stubborn one of the two and she could not stand to be treated like utter trash.

They quietly got in to the car, Haruki refused to say a word to the very rude women. She only wanted to be close to Haruko, he was the only person…err…Pokémon that Haruki needed. Haruki wasn’t used to the uncomfortable restraint of the leather seatbelt and shifted several times to try and get comfortable on the drive back. The black leather interior was a bit odd too, so much so that it caused Haruki to run her newly given human fingers along the side of the car only to be shouted at by the lady.

“Don’t touch my car like that, you little monster!” The lady yelled and then quickly covered her mouth like she had said something she hadn’t meant to.

Haruko glared angrily and with a voice filled with venom he said, “Don’t you ever talk to my twin that way, you stupid, old hag!” The women grunted irritated at the response, Haruki chuckled at her brother.

She leaned in close to him and whispered, “First things first, when we get there, we’ll loot some supplies and we then ditch the old hag.” Haruko nodded in agreement and they quietly high-fived each other while the “old hag” wasn’t looking.

Maybe this “being human” thing might not be so bad after all….-----The car pulled up to an orphanage, it wasn’t to horrid looking, but it looked like it had seen too many days. Haruki hopped out of the car. The two stood blankly in front of the building, keeping the towels wrapped around them.

“Let’s get you some clothes,” The old hag said bitterly.-----

Haruki shifted uneasily in her new pair of clothing. She felt uncomfortable and restricted in this dress. She took a look in the mirror and wrinkled her nose at was staring back at her. A child of about 3”9 with brown hair, dressed in a brown, plaid patterned dress…the sleeves were tinted a very light tan color and had ribbons tied around the ends of the sleeves. She also noticed her newly washed hair had been put up in short pig tails and the lady had added a plaid patterned ribbon. She was also wearing white tights that accompanied some average brown shoes.

“Aren’t you cute?” The nurse she had been brought to said to her, Haruki frowned, although the dress was cute she disliked feeling so confined, she wondered how Haruko was doing, the two had been split up when they were forcibly bathed. Haruko had been taken by the old hag and Haruki had been taken by a plump, female, nurse.

To be honest, she wished she was with the old hag at the moment; this woman had pinched her cheeks so many times, calling her, “The cutest thing she had ever seen,” and a bunch of other weird stuff like that. Haruki didn’t mind the words but her cheeks were beginning to get sore. Haruki frowned at the women bitterly who only chuckled and picked her up, “I bet you’re hungry! That’s why you’re so crabby!”

“Lady, there is a lot more to the reason why I’m in a bad mood,” Haruki though to herself struggled in the pork women’s strong grasp. Haruki was carried in to the kitchen by the pork women, she was plopped down right on a hard wooden chair next to Haruko, who had been dressed quite comically as well.

“You look stupid, Haruki,” He said to her with a mischievous smile on his face, she gave a mischievous smile right back and responded with the same response. The two laughed and grabbed each other’s hands.

“So it doesn’t look like this place has anything, let’s ditch them when their backs are turned,” Haruki whispered to Haruko and he nodded and kept the mischievous smile on his face. The two had always been notoriously skillful at planning escape routes.

“Now you young’uns wait right here and I’ll cook up some eggs for you to eat,” The pork women smiled and disappeared into a large freezer, the twins smirked and shut the freezer door behind the lady and put a chair in front of the handle. The two laughed happily and made a break for it but before leaving Haruki left her with some parting words:

“Don’t worry all that pork will keep you warm!” She laughed and the two made a break for the entrance. They were finally free of the old hag and the pig women. Haruki turned to her brother who was running steadily behind her, “So what do you think we should do?” She asked him between gasps.

“Dunno~ But there’s plenty of new things we can do as humans~” Haruko said, he did have a point, the two were free to do whatever humans could do, they could verbalize words now and could reach new heights. Maybe it wasn’t so bad being human, Haruki could get used to this.

“Hehehe, this lady’s body is fine, we could have some fun with this…” The twins heard a masculine voice say, they both looked around curiously. What they found were two brutish young men fawning over a lady….a naked young lady.

The two crouched in the tall grass secretly, they hadn’t been spotted which was good, “What are we going to do? We have to help her, Haruko,” Haruki whispered, “She looks injured too!” Haruko made a ‘hmmm’ sound and then turned to her.

“Okay, here’s the plan, I’ll distract them, you go find someone scary to go scare them off,” Haruko whispered, Haruki nodded and watched Haruko stand up and approach the two young men.

“Hey! What are you doing out here harassing this girl!” Haruka yelled, growling at the two. Now that all attention was turned on to Haruko, Haruki slowly crept away to find an intimidating, scary person, as she was creeping away she heard something that made her pick up the pace.

“Beat it, kid! Or you’ll be in big trouble!”

“What are you going to do about it, you fat pig?” Haruko said with a tone of mischievousness, Haruki hurried away to find someone. She didn’t know how long her brother could beat the two brutes off of the injured women.

-----“Gotta find someone, gotta find someone, gotta find someone scary…” Haruki looked around route 201 and noticed a rather intimidating 17 year old man who stood at 6 foot. Haruki thought he looked intimidating enough to scare off the two losers who were harassing the girl, “You! There! Mr. Scaryman! I need your help, I don’t care what you have to say, you’re coming with me!” Haruki yelled grabbing his thin hand and forcefully attempting to drag him back towards the scene. Unfortunately, he was much heavier than she expected and wouldn’t budge an inch, and only looked at her with curious irritation.

“You have to hurry! There’s this lady who’s injured a little ways away and I left my twin brother with them to make sure they wouldn’t do anything and if we don’t hurry they might get hurt!” Haruki yelled tears beginning to flood from her eyes, “And if Haruko gets hurt I don’t have anything else, you have to help Mr. Scaryman!”

A human’s taste buds were very different than the ones in an Absol. Just a small bite from one of the pomaceous fruits he found some minutes ago introduced him to a whole new different variety of flavors. This human mouth was exaggeratedly more sensitive than his former Pokémon one, and that single engulfment made him feel like he was in heaven. Boy, was he going to take a surprise the next time he found an Aguav Berry; delicacy for Absols but a monstrosity of indescribable bitterness to the homo sapiens.

NightSlash turned around. Controlling his body wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be, but he was somewhat dizzy. It felt like dimensional jetlag. He horizontally scrolled his surroundings, making sure no one was threatening him or staring down. He had been to Twinleaf before, but he had never been able to stand so wide in the open without being chased. The town had a minimum amount of buildings, and it probably was the same with the demographics. It was so calm and tranquil, the perfect retirement place.

Route 201 stood in front of him, and the sylvan path presented much more movement than the town itself, despite the proximity. It was the only way out unless you had a bulldozer to tear through the thick walls of trees to the east and west. Slash knew that he had to take steps forward to venture in and find answers about this, for he was starting to doubt it was all just a bad dream.

The boy stared down at his hands. His painted fingernails were the only thing he could identify himself with, due to his claws. The rest was completely foreign. He put his hands together, unintentionally making his joints crack. He leapt back, frightened, but stopped the flinching when he realized he wasn’t actually in pain. He continued examining his body, patting every single square inch of it.

“Uhm… Kid, are you ok?”

An old man that had come out for his newspaper noticed that some weird-looking guy was feeling his genitals over his pants for more than what was healthy. The ex-Absol just stared at him without answering. He had never been around humans, unlike other trained Pokémon. No, why go over there. Even the cute, wild Pokémon moved around them with more ease than him. They could’ve had time to figure basic social interaction skills. Slash, however, was at a total loss.

Unsure of what to do, the male grinned, revealing two sharp fangs that only incited the senile human to storm back into his house.

~?~

Shrugging, Absol took a few steps forward. The rays of the sun welcomed him to Route 201. After he took 3 steps, however, the figure of a child sprung from a bush and grabbed his hand. Slash flinched, and he would’ve kicked the kid into Hoenn with his huge combat boots had it not began talking.

“You! There! Mr. Scaryman!”

Smooth.

The kid tried to pull Slash towards him. The little girl’s attempts were far beyond useless, however. Slash towered over her; he has nearly twice her size. With flaming desire in her eyes, however, she continued pulling.

“I need your help, I don’t care what you have to say, you’re coming with me!”

In the beginning, he felt nothing, but after one strong tug, Slash flinched in pain. The wound he received as an Absol was still there, right on his chest, and the constant pulling from the girl began the course of a stream of blood. It burned.

“You have to hurry! There’s this lady who’s injured a little ways away and I left my twin brother with them to make sure they wouldn’t do anything and if we don’t hurry they might get hurt… And if Haruko gets hurt I don’t have anything else, you have to help Mr. Scaryman!”

Slash wanted to slap the girl away and leave, but as tears ran down her eye, he began to give in. She was just a baby, a small, cute kid crying for help, defenseless. She was a human, yes, the specie that made him go through a lot of suffering… But he knew that not all were the same. Something in his new human heart urged him to go. Maybe there was not much he could do, but he could give it a try.

“I… I’ll go.”

Slash budged. He lifted a foot and soon enough he began to dash behind Haruki, who lead him deeper into the route, into a dark place with really tall grass. In the middle of a small clearing, a naked body laid. In front the woman stood the male version of Haruki, and yet in front of him, two bullies with lusty faces prepared to feast on the unconscious female.

“Kid,” one of the men said while he laughed loudly, “I’ve taken sh—s bigger than you! Get the hell out of my way!”

Haruko was feisty, yes; but the laws of physics and logic were powerful. The bully grabbed the kid by his shirt and tossed him away without any effort. Haruki sobbed in despair. Slash kept a straight face. He was confused. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he had to do something.

“Dibs…” The guy that smacked Haruko said as he licked his lips and kneeled down towards the girl. Like a thief in the night and quicker than a shadow, Slash sprung out from behind the tall grass and sprinted towards him. With a swift arm swing and a clenched fist, the man’s jaw was put on the receiving end of an immeasurable strength.

“Gah!”

He let out a very loud yell as he fell behind, coughing blood and nearly falling unconscious. Slash was by no means a powerhouse, but he did have an athletic build. The other guys were just average bystanders.

“What the f—?!” The second male squealed as he jumped back. “Who the hell are you? Get out!”

Slash’s heart began to pound fast. Adrenaline flooded him.

“You little fairy boy, we called her ours first! Scram before I make you regret this!”

Slash was punched on the face. It hurt, a lot. He, however, didn’t move at all. He was used to being beat up; and to his advantage, the human pain was different. His cranium had stronger structures now. He felt the pain distribute evenly among his cheekbone and all of his teeth. He blankly stared at the male as he through another punch in awe.

The blow was received with the other side of the face now, same deal.

~Why is he hitting me?~ Slash thought absentmindedly and without a single move. ~I’m doing the right thing.~

“Oh, playing strong? Hold this!”

The bully reached to his pocket and pulled out a knife. Slash’s pupils dilated, and before he could react, the blade pierced right under his ribs.

“Sol~!”

The cringing cry of an Absol in pain accidentally escaped his lips. The bully stared at him confused, but his confusion rapidly changed to dismay once he saw Slash’s reaction. The knife dropped from his body, and with blood coming out from two orifices now, Slash’s eyes were now tinted a crimson red.

Desperate, another punch flew at him. Slash did react this time, and just like in a move, he blocked the punch with his own forearm. The armlock remained so for some seconds before Slash delivered a punt kick on the outside of the man’s knee. The joint irregularly bent inward, causing the man to kneel down. Now in the begging position, a knee uppercut sealed his fate. It wasn’t anything less than a broken nose and dislocated jaw. The man fell first one stared in shock and ran away.

Slash turned back and saw that the twins were now looking down to the female. She seemed to be recovering her consciousness, which wouldn’t be unusual due to the recent ruckus. He was unsure if she saw the whole deal, however.

Slash scanned her naked body. He didn’t know what this meant for humans, nor was any malice found in him. He wanted to ask her something, ‘are you ok?’

Anything like that. But he couldn’t. Slash stared into her half-open eyes, his’ still crimson red, and then stood up, leaving the unbitten apple next to her. He quietly began to walk away, limping a few feet before falling to his knees. The pain from the stab and the lunchbox wound took over him, and he was struggling for breath. He needed to rest, but didn’t want to do it here. He couldn’t do much before falling flat on his stomach, hoping the three beings would go away to let him be so he could continue his journey.

((There we go. A little quick something to get this going on. We're quickly taking the bull by the horns d: ))

With bright, inquisitive brown eyes, an awestruck Venomous gazed up at a magnificent creature with fur the color of shimmering snow.

"Vee?!" She murmured quietly, to which the great beast humbly lowered his head, a kind, though weatherworn look present in his startling Ruby eyes.

"Vee!" The happy go lucky Eevee chirped, unable to contain the youthful excitement typical to all newborn Eevee. She had hopped up to balance herself on her two hind legs, and her forelegs were stretched upward for her paws to rest on either side of the foreign Pokemon's great white face. Though a more high strung wild Pokemon might've grown annoyed and snapped, this creature, in all its good natured benevolence only smiled endearingly at the spry little Evolution Pokemon.

"Venomous! Goddamn, Venomous! You're really too fast for your own good!" Jumping down off of the unidentified Pokemon and twirling around in excitement to greet the griping voice of her trainer, Venomous' elogonated ears perked up, capturing the very footfall of her rapidly approaching trainer. When she glanced back at her newfound friend though, he didn't seem nearly as ecstatic, his features twisted into a grim expression of dread. Dante soon approached, and when he did, his pupils dilated in anger. In one smooth, fluid motion, he picked up a handful of rocks, which were abundunt on the Mountainous terrain the team traversed.

An ominous crackle of thunder sounded in the distance, and was accompanied by a fierce, whipping gust which clawed desperately at Venomous, threatening to spill her over the edge.

"Vee!" She squealed in utter terror, and with the speed of a night predator, the white Pokemon lunged between her and the edge, using his body as a barrier between Venomous and the edge. His face was braced in concentration, which offered Dante the perfect opportunity to strike. Mercilessly, he heaved a good-sized boulder at the other Pokemon's abdomen, it barely missing Venomous in the process.

"Useless, good for nothing creatures." He spat, and though his eyes swam with malice, Venomous, who knew her trainer better than anybody, could also detect a hint of fear.

"Venomous, get over here NOW!" He ordered, to which the little female Eevee scurried to his side. The Pokemon scrambled to its feet, now limping a bit because of the harsh impact. Its fur, once the color of a virgin snow, was rapidly becoming soaked crimson. Venomous had begun to whimper.

"Goddamnit, why don't you just go crawl in a hole and die?" Dante shouted off as the creature quietly began to slink away from the scene. "All you Absols better serve us dead anyways." He sneered finally as he snatched up the petrified Eevee and stalked away with her in the other direction.

-----------------------

Venomous' pupils enlarged as the creature in front of her wavered, the clean cut blade of a pocketknife falling away from his body, revealing the damage it had left in its wake.

"Bre..." She murmured weakly, as the creature, an Absol, only the second she had seen in her life, eyes passionate with a red primal fury, finished the opposing boy off with a seriously impressive amount of legwork, the likes of which Venomous had never seen a primarily four-legged creature utilize. Why this Absol was fighting the likes of an adolescent human male escaped her, as Absols tended to be goodnatured and unimposing, but he looked damn good doing it. After the human had fleed (a refreshing change of scenery), the Absol somberly turned his bright eyes to her, silently surveying her fallen form. She flinched, the memory of the previous day returning to her, and the viscous assault she had undergone that she had been sure would leave her dead. She could feel the proverbial dimming, the undeniable sensation of life ebbing away, and was sure that soon she would cease to feel anything. But now the pain was back a hundred fold. The Absol, with the parting gift of a crisp unbitten apple, soundlessly stood, taking his leave.

Wait! Venomous thought, but could muster no words. The Absol took a few steps, his beautiful snowfallen fur becoming stained with a gruesome crimson marking, and then fell, flat on his stomach.

Oh shit.. Oh shit... Venomous thought, panicking staring at the motionless Absol, before her memory decided to be gracious.

Wait! I can fix this, she thought, as she attempted to stand on wobbly legs. The pain of ten thousand "Bite" attacks was upon her, and threatened to send her begging at her knees again as she was engulfed in a barrage of agonizing flames. She wasn't giving up, however. Bracing against the pain by sinking her teeth into the left side of her cheek, she trudged onward, those few steps to the Absol's body feeling like miles. All of a sudden, a child, an Eevee, jumped in front of her.

"Miss, you better just lie down for a moment!" The female voice advised her, breaking halfway through the statement as the little girl panicked, attempting to block the Absol's body from her view in an obvious attempt to get her to stop moving. Venomous obstinately refused though, gently pushing the concerned little Eevee away and falling gracelessly to the still conscious Absol's side.

"Bre..." She murmured again, this time imploring as her sad, Ruby eyes inspected the place where his fur had become stained. She placed her ebony paw to his blood-soaked fur and concentrated every ounce of her energy, attempting to channel it into her customary "Moonlight" attack, the attack she was most notorious in battle for, the attack that had been the sole reason for his not killing her off yet. Try as she might however, the translucent green energy wouldn't flow from her paw. It was then that Venomous realized that what had been the illusion of long, silken white fur was actually smooth, bald flesh. The metallic blue of the Absol's face was now broader and naked too, though he still sported those same, heartstopping red eyes. This wasn't an Absol at all; it was a Human! Even more horrifying, the paw she snatched away wasn't a paw at all! It was a human hand, fingers wiggling like erratic little worms as she fell away from the boy's body in a panic. Was she a human too?!

Suddenly, a little boy with a shaggy brown mop of hair approached her, along with a nearly identical female child sporting the same tawny, unruly hair, although longer and put up into messy pigtails. Venomous instinctively shied away from them, but they seemed insistent.

"Miss, please don't move! You'll only make your wounds even worse!"

"It's okay, we're going to get you some help!" The girl chimed in insistantly, eyes shining with feverish promise. As Venomous skin shuddered into gooseflesh, and her body began to tremble, going rapidly into shock, she stared, tormented at the boy as if to ask "What happened to me?"

Sorry Dy, couldn’t wait to post. Will edit the first part if you decide to stick with rp~

Part 2 - Emergency

Haruko watched his twin sister skitter away in a hurry, he smiled and then turned to the two brutes who were staring him angrily. Haruko gave devilish smirk and got in to a fighting stance, surely he could do more now with a human body rather than an Eevee’s body.

Unfortunately Haruko had underestimated the man’s strength, and had overestimated his own strength. The laws of physics were not on his side as he was easily grabbed by the collar of his own shirt. Haruko struggled in his grasp and used the only attack he knew, bite. Haruko bit down on the man’s hand as hard as he could, he could feel blood rushing from the wound and into his mouth, causing him to release his grip and cough and causing the man to drop Haruko.“YOU LITTLE SHIT!” The man cried, Haruko was coughing at the horrible taste of the blood, as Haruko was coughing at the bitter taste he heard the man yell, “Kid, I’ve taken shits bigger than you! Get the hell out of my way!”

Haruko sneered and got to his feet, “It would figure, I mean, all you probably do all day long is stuff that fat gut of yours with food! I’m surprised the ground doesn’t break under you, fatty! Is that why you have to harm a defenseless young girl? Because no girl would stand the thought of you while they’re awake?” Haruko said, his voice filled with malice and hate for the two despicable human beings.“WHY YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!” The man yelled, Haruko gave a ‘heh’ sound and quickly dodged a punch.

“It seems I’ve hit a weak spot, haha, fatty!” Haruko yelled he had forgotten about the other man though and was caught off guard when the other man grabbed him by the side of the collar and flung him to the side like a rag doll; he hit a neighboring tree and made a loud “OOOMPH!” sound. The air had been knocked straight out of him and he began to cough violently trying to regain some air in his lungs.

In the distance he heard his sister give a desperate sob, she was back, and with help! Through violent coughing he could vaguely make out the figure of a many, a very tall man. He could also see one of the men leaning down to kiss the girl on the lips, “Dibs….”

Do something! That’s why my sister brought you here! Haruko yelled in his head but all that came out was a series of violent inaudible gasps, and life a swift shadow the huge man sprung in to action and punched the man square at the jaw. Haruki had then taken this chance to run to her twin brothers side.

“A bit bruised, but nothing a few Oran berries can’t fix…” He mumbled to Haruki, still trying to get air back in to his lungs. Haruki only stared at her brother worriedly, the two had thoroughly believed that the scary-looking man could handle the two gruff men who were about to attack this young girl, “Let’s go check on the girl,” Haruko said calmly managing to stand up, he felt a few bruises coming on but there was no evidence of bleeding.

“R-right…” Haruki stared at her brother in worry who smiled calmly back at her.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” He said and grabbed her hand, the two made their way over to the girl to see how she was doing.

She was absolutely covered in vicious bite marks and lacerations, which cause the twins to jump back a little out of fear. It was similar to how their deceased mother had looked when she was killed. The two shook off their fears and took a step closer only to hear something that spooked them.

“Oh, playing strong? Hold this!”

The bully reached to his pocket and pulled out a knife. The twins were utterly frozen in fear, what could they do? They were scared, and alone, what could they do? The brute man smirked as he made a swift movement and stabbed the man right under the rib cage.

“EEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Haruki screamed with all her might, startling the two brutes.

“Shit, there was a second kid?!” The man said, “We’ll take care of them next first let’s take care of this idi—“ The man was unable to finish his sentence when the man when the man received a thorough beat down from the large man, and were sent scurrying off and dropping a strange device in a panic. Haruki will still screaming in a panic her brother trying to calm her down.

Through her tears she could see the giant man take a few steps then collapse to the ground, just as the women was beginning to stir. Things were quickly getting out of hand, but somehow Haruko had managed to calm her down enough so that she would stop screaming like a banshee but she was still sobbing.

What stopped Haruki’s sobbing was the fact that the girl was getting to her feet and slowly inching towards the man, a look of determination in her eyes. What was this girl intending to do?

Haruki suddenly jumped in front of the women, blocking the path to the collapsed man, “Miss, you better just lie down for a moment!" Haruki advised in a sudden panic. The women didn’t respond only gently pushing her aside as if she were obstacle in the road. The women fell next to the man, and the twins were beginning to panic, what could they do?!

The women slowly put her hand on his chest and looked like she was expecting something to happen, “Bre…” The woman muttered but then suddenly fell back in confusion, and was staring at her hand in a shocked manner.

This caused the twins to look at each other in surprise, it had been their very same reaction once they found out they were human..

“Could she be…?”

“…A Pokémon too?”

Haruko approached the women slowly but she instantly shied away as if he were the devil himself, “Miss, please don't move! You'll only make your wounds even worse!" He told her trying to put some sense into the confused and frightened women.

Haruki’s face hardened with determinations, “It’s okay, Miss, we’re going to get you some help!" Haruki chimed in insistently, eyes shining with feverish promise. The woman was beginning to shake, she was going in to shock but the women continued to stare at Haruko, seeming to ask “What has happened to me?”

Haruko slowly approached the women and very gently said, “You’re a Pokémon too, aren’t you?” The women slowly nodded but before she could try and ask anything else lost consciousness.

The twins were at a loss for what to do but then Haruki remembered that one of the gruff men had dropped something. Haruki quickly ran and grabbed it. The device was a Pokegear, common among trainers and could be used for communication.

“What luck, we can call for help with this Haruko!” Haruki said picking up the device and running over to him, “But...uh…How do we use it, and who do we call?”

“Well, humans always talk of a number called 9-1-1 when there was an emergency, so why not call that?” Haruko said poking at the strange blue device.

“Right, but, how does it work?” Haruki cocked her head to the side, Haruko shrugged.

“Just push the button on the side? I don’t know!” He yelled at her frustrated, she nodded and pushed the side of the Pokegear, causing it to light up and a number pad to appear on the screen.

“Um, we’re on route 201 and there are two people, one was just stabbed by two gruff looking men and he’s bleeding really badly, there’s also this lady covered in bad bite marks and lacerations! She’s going in to shock!” Haruki yelled in to the Pokegear, she was beginning to panic again.

“Understood, is there anyone else with you, miss?”

“Y-yeah… my twin brother....We’re on Route 201…Please hurry…” Haruki said through sobs.“Alright, I’m sending an ambulance your way, please stay with the two of them until the ambulance gets there,” The operator instructed, and the twins responded with a nod.

--------After much explaining, panic, and one quick ride in an ambulance, the entire group was dropped off at the Jubilife City Hospital. The twins were allowed to ride in the ambulance, which if not for the half dead people in the back, might have been pretty cool.

The paramedics also had the idea that these two were their parents, so the hospital staff allowed the twins to stay with the two. Haruko ended up staying with the large man and Haruki ended up staying with the women. The hospital staff was also kind enough to let them do small chores around the hospital to keep them busy while the two were in surgery.

“Haruko, do you really think that lady is a Pokémon…?” Haruki asked her twin while trying to draw a strange picture of a Flareon.

“Dunno, but she did look just as shocked as we were when she started staring at her hand…” Haruko said, who was attempting to draw a picture of two Eevee’s and a heart, though it too, was extremely messy and mangled, “Well, all we can do is wait.”

Haruki nodded quietly and returned to her drawing, she stared back at the ‘in surgery’ sign which was glowing bright red…

The grass, dirt, and bugs were tickling Slash’s fallen body. It hurt so much. This definitely was definitely not a dream. Not even in Darkrai’s sickest nightmare could something like this happen. But if that wasn’t the case, what was going on? For God’s sake, this was a bloody children’s novel gone wrong.

The rubious irises planted on the boy’s face were unhurriedly shutting, but before the flares of the sun and the exhaustion sealed the tight, another figure blocked the beams. Dizzy, Slash turned his banged head to a side and identified the body as the girl who was lying half dead not too long ago. The Absol was confused. He had only turned for a couple of seconds, and in that time; she had lifted herself up.

The girl stretched her hand out towards Slash, and in reaction, the boy cringed, expecting it to sting. She stared at her hand, focused, although nothing seemed to happen. Slash stared into the girl’s eyes, and soon enough he proceeded to examine her whole face. There was something odd about her. Many factors weren’t human about her. Never had he seen eyes that red, or a mane so black. There was something strange, too, in the way she smelled. He hadn’t been around humans all that long, but these were definitely Pokémon hormones. Awkward. As if it wasn’t enough, something caught Slash off guard. As he stared at her, the sun hit her forehead, and suddenly the characteristic yellow ring of an Umbreon’s face sparkled on the porcelain face.

~Could she be..?~

The girl began to panic. Images were becoming blurry. The last thing Absol could remember was that one of the kids, undiscerning if it was the boy or the girl, had approached and asked if she was a Pokémon. She nodded.

~It’s true…~

Absol fainted.

~

16:00; Jubilife Pokémon Center

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeee-

What was actually the slumber of several hours passed by like a couple of minutes. From rocks to a thin mattress, Slash had been transported to the next large city’s hospital. The Absol absentmindedly opened his eyes, and he found himself in an all white room. At first, he only shifted his head from side to side. He saw the railings of a bed, a machine that measure his heartbeat and some empty chairs with a window on top. On the other side, separated by an open curtain, Venomous lied down, asleep, in a bed similar to his. He was shocked to see a number of wires running down a machine an into her body and several bandages and ointments. It then struck him. The Absol sat up and let out a loud yell. It was an abomination. He had an IV in one arm and some clamps on several of his fingers. His shoulder and abdomen were linked by clothes that made him look like he was wearing a strange medieval chestpiece. Slash panicked. What were the doing to him? Whatever it was, it wasn’t ok. Why’d the hell’d they put a needle through his arm.

Desperate, Slash ripped the IV away and blood began to gush out, forcing him to let out another sharp scream. A nurse ran in, trying to calm him down, but slash just smacked her out off the way and into the serum pole. The liquid spilled red into her white gown, and she was knocked unconscious. Slash tossed the blanket away and stood up, the cheap gown falling off and revealing a pissed giant naked from the waist down. It was a frightening sight. Absol tried to run out through the door, but he was intersected by many more doctors and nurses. He successfully cleared the path off of some, but eventually a huge security guard caught him and tossed him into the bed.

“Dammit, I touched his penis!”

Slash was being held down forcefully by the security guards, who were shocked to see the beaten nurse. They thought she had been stabbed by this white haired monster.

“Hold… TIGHT!”

Absol roared and the employees struggled. Everyone outside could hear the punching and yelps going in inside, and it sounded like they were wrestling a lion. Slash was shaking in anxiousness, now attempting to bite the hands that were near him, seeing as all of his limbs were being forced down. A final doctor walked in with a syringe, and he proceeded to slam it into Slash’s neck. Soon enough, the anesthetic kicked in and he fainted once again. Drama.

~

22:00; Jubilife Pokémon Center. Quiet Time.

Slash opened his eyes once again, several hours after the incident with the doctors. Due to the chemicals inside his body, he woke up much more calm now. This time, he surveyed the white walls of the room more carefully before going on a rampage again. He stretched his arms and legs and then sat up. To his right, he found the twins from earlier heavily asleep on the chairs below the large window. They seemed exhausted, for they had fallen into a pretty uncomfortable position where they awkwardly rested on top of each other. Beside them, one of those portable clothe rack was found. There was a T-shirt identical to the one he had been wearing earlier that day, and under that, the rest of his clothes were found, all washed and tidy. Next to that was a whole outfit dangling from a hanger. The attire consisted of a dress with an unusual black bow on the back, socks, boots, and even a backpack. To his other side, just like before, Venomous was still fast asleep.

Slash rubbed his eyes and scratched his head, deciding to be more calm this time. It was no use freaking out, he saw what happened before. First of all, he stared down at his arm. The intravenous was there once again, but now he removed it more calmly. He teared the tape off and carefully pulled the needle out, taking a small bandage found on a table to his left to cover the wound up. Damage was minimal. The rest of the clamps were easy to remove.

NightSlash stood up from the bed put his clothes on. Clothes didn’t feel natural on him, he’d much rather prance around in his birthday suit, but he first found himself clothed, so clothed he’d stay. It didn’t take him long to get dressed, except for the fact that he didn’t know how to tie his shoes. He stuck the laces inside the combat boots and proceeded to look for the exit. The main entrance was heavily guarded, there was no way they’d let him out. Instead, he looked for alternatives in the room, making sure to stay quiet so he wouldn’t wake up the other three people.

After a while of searching around, he figured the only way out was the window on top of the twins. The window probably measured a good 10x10 feet when closed, 5x5 when opened since only half of it slid. It was easily reachable with the chairs inside the room, too.

~This is it…~ He thought to himself as he stared outside into the whiteness of the moon. It was a beautiful night with a crescent satellite. He used his newly acquired thumbs to open the window and let a chilling breeze come in. He was about to jump out when something urged him to turn around. The Umbreon and the Eevees looked so innocent, fragile, and vulnerable right there… He couldn’t just leave them there. Sure, they’d done nothing for him; but he remembered that earlier that day, a scene ensued where the chances of them being Pokémon widened. He took a deep breath and fell back to the room, first heading over to Venomous.

He stood next to her and stared for several moments. Could it really be?

There was something unusual, now; for as soon as the window opened to let the moon beams in, her hair sprouted yellow fringes. Slash was bewildered, but he didn’t mind. There were other things to worry about. The male proceeded to lower his head unto her face and chest, sniffing her past the paper-scented gown. Umbreon, unmistakably.

NightSlash took the IV in his hands and pulled it off her, clean. No blood began gushing out, but he repeated the bandaging process he did on himself on her. He did this with delicacy, but failed to keep her asleep. Once that was out of the way, he headed over to the Eevee twins. He slowly poked their cheeks until they half-opened their eyes.

NightSlash didn’t speak, he didn’t ask to be followed, so he just headed to the open window once again. It was only 10:00PM, there was still heavy traffic in the big city of Jubilife. Luckily for them, the window faced a dark alley that connected with the populated streets; easy for them to walk out and blend in until they found a safer place. It wouldn’t be long, anyway, until the people went to bed, that he knew. Slash leapt out and landed on all fours, the newly made stitches in his body paying the price of pressure. He stood up and then stared back and up and the window, wondering if the others were to follow. He really didn’t mind, but he decided to wait for some moments before walking away to find answers on his own.

When she first awoke, it seemed as if the past three hours, the ones including the wounded Absol and the two young Eevees had been but a short, fleeting dream, a very brief release from the hideous reality of her life. For when she awoke, Venomous' eyes peeled open to take in the grotesquely plain, objective off-white walls of the hospital. She had shivered, and her stomach had sank as her overworked mind jumped to the conclusion that she must be back in the dreary, solitary confines of her Pokeball, but wait a tic-

Some kind of rough, cheap material grazed her bare arms, yes bare, and she glanced down at her body to see that some kind of cover had been placed around her lower body and tucked under her bare arms. Savagely, she yanked it off and let it drop to the floor. Where in Arceus was she?! She then began inspecting herself, checking herself for any new indications of bodily harm and/or invasion, and found that the mortifying wounds she wore- the bite marks and lacerations dictated to her by her parents, were now cleanly stiched up. A number of thin wires and tubes were also feeding some kind of strange liquid into her intravenously. Curiously, she sent forth one of her hands to investigate the site of the wound, but at the first tentative prod from her finger, Venomous winced, and tears were brought to her eyes. Unagitated, the wounds were fine, but at the slightest movement, it felt like the sharp, venomous flame of a Beedril sting. And so curiosity having killed thr cat, Venomous instead sat quietly, wanting to give no indication of her consciousness in case of an immediate ambush from some waiting predator in the room.

But the only other individual sharing her forlorn quarters was the boy from earlier- The Absol. By the looks of it, he was just beginning to stir from slumber as well. They were both wearing the same kind of unnatural attire- a white and flueorescent green gown, and the strange addition of clothes made Venomous feel trapped and noticeable. She clawed absentmindedly at the nightgown, while maintaining her focus on the boy lying in the bed parallel to hers. He seemed generally less aware than her, and immediately begun searching himself as she had initially done, though his eyes were clouded with disbelief and were soon filling with rage. He glanced over at her, and she instinctively flopped down, eyes squeezing shut lest the boy decide to include her in his rage. After a few seconds, the magnetizing pull of all the drama that was occuring prompted her to again open her eyes, though this time, she watched through a tiny slit. The boy had ripped the Iv out of his arm, and now the familiar crimson fluid that had stained his original shirt rushed in a fluid wave down his arm. She winced, and again felt her innards begin to tingle with a shift of strange energy.

It was then that a foreign Human rushed in, unmistakably female by appearance, but Venomous sniffed discreetly just to be sure, her nose filling with the unpleasant, powdery sterile fumes of the hospital profession. Aside from the abhorrable scent of cleaning supplies, Venomous also detected a faint, ripe trace of something else, something that smelled eerily close to decay. It was the faint brushing with the dying that she faced every day. She rushed to the Absol's side with a calm, benevolent face, but he smacked her away as if she was nothing more than a fly on his rump. Venomous' eyes widened, and she drew the covers up over her head. Her heart had begun to escalate, and her shaking had nothing to do with the temperature. Seconds later an entire swarm of doctors and nurses flooded the room, surrounding her companion.

~Oh shit, oh shit!~ Venomous thought as soon her visual of the boy was blocked out because of the vast number of people flocking to him. This made her uneasy, and she whimpered deep in her throat. She had no clue whatsoever who this boy was, but that didn't matter to her. By his abnormal looks, his erratic, primal movements, the tantalizing scent of a mature male of her same egg group, he was unmistakably Pokemon, and she wouldn't let them harm a fellow member of her species. She growled, the sound barely inaudible over all the crashing and shouting, but they would be made aware of her presence soon. Calmly, she swung her legs over the side of her bed.

The sensation was more intolerable than she thought, and it felt as if a beast one thousand times her size had placed two claws at the center of her human flesh and torn her apart effortlessly, splitting her at the seams. She let out a gasp of pain and immediately collapsed to the frigid white floor of the hospital, tugging dangerously at the Ivs pumping various medications and sedatives into her, the new stitches threatening to burst. Two of the nurses noticed Venomous' weak attempts at entering the chaotic scene, and rushed to her side in alarm.

"Easy, sweety" A plump young blonde cooed in concern, gently taking Venomous by the arm while the other Nurse took the other and gently guiding her up and back over into her bed. Venomous' eyes swam with tears from the pain, but she ignored it for the time being and glanced over to the Absol boy.

"Dammit, I touched his penis!" The Security Guard bellowed as the boy was tossed roughly onto the bed despite his fresh stitches and the alarming blood flow pouring out of the wound left by the discarded Iv.

"It's okay, honey. Your friend is going to be just fine. Nobody is going to hurt him." The second Nurse explained gently, prompting Venomous to lie down while removing the Iv bag from the pole, discreetly inserting a higher dosage of sedatives into the bag. Venomous wasn't so assured by her words however, as the boy, having pissed off the staff now, was thoughtlessly jabbed in the neck with a large syringe, to which the six something foot tall beast finally went down, his head slamming into the clean white pillow leaving no doubt about that. Venomous again tried to sit up, but each of the Nurses had taken one of her arms in both hands, and sternly pushed her down. As her eyes began to sag, her vision fading and unable to even bring the Nurses' features into sharp focus, she heard them whispering to one another.

"What do you think they are?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but the tail between this one's legs? It's unmistakably an Umbreon's. My grandson was training one. I'm not sure what kind of sick experiment they are, but they seem absolutely savage."

"Well, it looks like we won't have to worry about being responsible for their care much longer. Looks like they're bringing in a couple of Scientists tomorrow, and Professor Rowan if they can reach him to see what should be done with these guys."

At this point in the conversation, Venomous' conscious faded, and her body sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Her second awakening was the clean, painless withdrawal of the Iv from her arm. Venomous' eyes popped open, and whatever stage of sleep she had been in was disrupted without a second thought. For some reason, she had instantly recalled the Nurses' conversation at her bedside, and she feared that the humans had come to lock them away forever. But her bewildered Ruby eyes soon settled upon the lanky boy who had been knocked unconscious seemingly seconds ago, and her surveyed her body somberly as he bandaged her up. Once assured of her awakening, he took several strides over to a window in the room that had been cranked open, and awoke the twins from earlier who had initially been her savior. He then wordlessly climbed up into the window and sprange, leaping God knows how far out of it.

What was she to do now?! Venomous' body, still pumped with a double dosage of sedatives and pain medications felt a little more tolerable of her wounds than earlier, but she knew she tread a fine line before she again encountered the unbearable headsplitting sensation, so slowly, she stood, wrapping her thin arms around her chest and inspecting the room. The Eevees had woken, and were talking confidentially amongst themselves, and their speech was unintelligable to her. She then noticed a clothes rack present in the room upon which hung a lone outfit, an exquisitely detailed solid black dress, tight and confining at the top, but liberating at the bottom with a billowing pleated skirt. Taking a deep breath, she began the slow, delicate process of dressing herself. Fortunately, though the dress appeared complex and mindboggling, the corset at the top was actually faux leather, and contained no cords but was made to stretch around the thighs and hips of a woman's curvacious body.

This stage of dressing having taken about four minutes with her sluggishness, Venomous ventured to be a little more hasty in slipping the stockings and the boots that had been left for her on. Finally, a miniature backpack remained, and it was in the form of a Chibified Absol. The cuteness of it in contrast to the savage bruteness of the boy she knew's strength made her smile, so without a second thought she grabbed the backpack without much thought or care of what was inside it. She then staggered over to the window, peering down earnestly, searching for the boy who had thought to awaken her. He stood panting, leaned against a wall, in an unidentifiable amount of pain from the toll of the leap. She pulled herself in one awkward movement up into one of the chairs beneath the window, and as the dull throbbing of pain started in her abdomen, braced herself. She poised herself on the ledge as he had, and glanced once back into the empty room. She felt as if she was rebelling somehow, and had the premonition that her new life would be anything but easy now that they were on the lam and in the foreign country of these human bodies without any idea of the rituals and customs. Squeezing the plush Absol against her chest, summoning the image of her as a battered Umbreon, huddled within the black confines of her Pokeball, begging to die inside there, to never come out again. Venomous knew what she had to do.

Lurching forward, she jumped swiftly from the ledge, barely catching herself, wobbling with an apparent lack of control on her two human legs, half-stifling a pained scream as she felt several of her new stitches tear and the hot sensation of blood began trickling down her naked flesh. She bit into her lips, grinding the flesh there too to prevent a loud sob from escaping, and sank to her knees, she too now panting.

“Now you two, we have some jobs for you,” The nurse cooed at the two twins who were both wagging their tails happily, happy to help out however they could, “We need one of you to go buy clothes for the women you brought in, and one of you stay behind and clean,” The nurse gave both children a pat on the head who smiled in return.

“I want to go get the clothes! I want to I want to!” Haruki wagged her tail and stood up, her brother smiled at her and nodded, the nurse smiled at the overly excited Eevee girl.

“Then here are the directions to the nearest clothes shop, can you read it? And do you know how to use money?”

Haruki was too excited to even wonder what such things meant; she simply nodded, took the money and map and ran out, leaving Haruko to chuckle to himself. Haruko turned to the nurse and smiled, “So what would you like me to clean?”

The nurse pointed to the room with the scary man (who actually wasn’t all that scary) and the umbreon women, “They woke up mid-anesthesia and made a mess, please do your best,” The nurse smiled but Haruko knew full well that those smiles were fake, unlike his easily-excitable sister he could sense the malice within these people, they were looking down on him and it made him sick.

After taking the cleaning supplies he looked the nurse straight in the eyes an icy tone said to her, “Your fake smiles mean nothing to me, but I swear if you ever lay a hand on my sister you will never smile again, got it?” His face then returned to a happy smile, “My hands are going to be very wrinkley from all this water~!”

The nurse’s face paled as Haruko wandered in to the room but she shook the thought off, he was eight! What harm could he possibly do?

-----Meanwhile-----

Haruki was wandering around the city, looking at the big buildings in fascination. She had only been to the big city once with her brother and….

Her face darkened and she shook the though off and with a look of renewed determination she shouted, “Time to go clothes shopping! I must find clothes for the big lady!” She through her fist up in the air in sheer determination, “But…where is the clothes story..?”

“Are you looking for clothes, young lady?” An old man asked her, Haruki nodded and showed him the wad of cash the nurse had given her. The man smirked at the small child, she was an easy scam.

“Well then how about these? They are beautiful and simple to get on, I’ll even through in this absol back pack for free,” The man smirked, still eyeing her bag of money, he could probably take it straight from her if he wanted but that wouldn’t be any fun. He had been trying to be rid of this dress for ages now and if he could make a crap ton of Poke while doing it, than good for him.

“Wow really, mister?!” Haruki’s tail wagged in excitement as she handed over the bag of money, in exchange the man handed over the dress and the Absol backpack.

It would be Haruki who got the last laugh though; as she was walking away the man noticed that instead of giving him a bag full of Poke, it was a bag full of Poke-sized pebbles. Haruki smirked and darted away leaving the man to scream obscenities into the crowd.

Haruki knew full well that the dress probably wasn’t worth anything and if anything, the bum probably stole it from a nearby clothes shop, “Heh, the con-artist just got conned~” Haruki smiled and continued on her way, “Well, I got clothes for the big lady….And have all the money to myself, what can I buy? I suppose it’s best if I learn to read human language, Mama always said it was helpful to be able to read…So maybe a book?” Haruki pondered aloud.

Haruki wandered a bit through the crowds, normally she would have been scared being alone and in the crowds but somehow her worries were calmed by the nice breeze that was gently blowing its way through the city. There was something peaceful about it. Haruki’s tail wagged as she came across a shop that, by looking through the windows, appeared to have many shelves filled with books.

“This is the store I’ve been looking for, ~” Her voice chimed as she opened the door and stepped inside.

The store itself was fairly large, but had few people in it, it was also extremely quiet, everyone seemed to be absorbed in a book of sorts except the cashiers who was writing something on a piece of paper. Haruki approached the man, “Um, do you know where I can get a learn-to-read book?” The cashier pointed to a row near the side of story, he didn’t even bother to look up at her. Haruki nodded at the man, went over to the row and placed all of her things down.

She ran her hand along the spines of the books and wondered which one she should get. Many of them were fairly thin and adorned with different pictures of Pokémon. She wanted to take all of them but she didn’t know how much money she had and how much these books were.

“Maybe I’ll just take the 1st of this series,” Haruki pondered and pulled a book out from the shelf. She couldn’t read the title and she only recognized the numbers on the books. She figured that from the looks of the cover, that it wasn’t what she wanted. She frowned and put it back.

This is also when she noticed a book with several letters on the cover, perched precariously on a shelf she couldn’t reach. No matter how she try she couldn’t reach it, she was simply too short!

“Is something the matter, little girl?” A women’s voice rang out and she saw a young women approaching her. Haruki pointed at the book that was on the shelf she couldn’t reach but didn’t take her eyes off the women.

“T-That book up there, is it a learn-to-read book?” Haruki asked the women, examining her. Her hair was a very scarlet red, the same with her eyes, her skin was very rosey, and the clothing she wore was more than a little revealing.

“Oh, this book here?” The women had no trouble reaching it and handing it to her, “Yes, it teaches you to read using sounds, do you have enough money for it, little girl?” The women looked her as Haruki clutched the book in her hands tightly.

“I have the money the nurse gave me, she said to spend it on clothes for the big lady, but I got the clothes from a strange old man for a bag of pebbles!” Haruki explained to the women who chuckled at her and gave her a pat on the head, which made Haruki’s tail wag. Her touch was very warm, and felt like her mother’s.

“I’ll buy the book for you, little girl, but in exchange you have to tell me your name,” The women smiled at her and took out a few dollars from a bag.

“Uwah! You will?! Thank you nice lady! My name is Haruki! Thank you, nice lady!” The women looked a bit surprised when she heard the name but it was almost instantly replaced with a kind smile.

“That is a pretty name, anyway let’s get you this book, Haruki-chan,” The women said warmly, “I’ll even buy you lunch, Haruki. How about that?” The women smiled

“Uwah, can you buy some for Haruko-kun too? He’s my twin brother, and I’m sure he’ll be hungry too by the time I get back!”

“Sure, what do you want to eat?”

-------

Haruko was scrubbing the floor intently. The man had certainly made a large mess, hasn’t even ever heard of keeping cool in a situation like this? Haruko stood up, brushed himself off, and crossed his arms, a triumphant smile coming across his face, “Alright, all the blood is cleaned off the floor~ I wonder how Haruki is doing?” Haruko pondered out loud and then proceeded to stretch.

His eyes darted to the women who they had found unconscious in the grass. Haruko took a seat next to her, and simply began to wonder, “You know, when we found you in the grass, you looked the way our mother looked when she….” His voice trailed off, he couldn’t finish the sentence, something in him wasn’t letting him finish his sentence, “Whatever, it’s not really important at the moment.”

She didn’t respond, she was completely sedated, and so was the other man. Haruko’s face remained solemn, “Whatever, I have to get back to cleaning.”

“Haruko, Haruko, Haruko!” His sisters voice penetrated the silence of the room when she had come bursting in through the door and tackling him to the ground, “I met a nice lady at the story, she bought us lunch!” Haruki’s tail wagged back and forth swiftly, Haruko could tell she was extremely happy, “She also bought me a learn-to-read book I was looking at on my way back, it makes sounds, Haruka! SOUNDS! Being human is so awesome!”

Haruko laughed at his sister and sat up off the floor, “You’ll have to show me Haruki-chan!”

-------

“Momma, why is the sky lighting up and making loud noise…?” A small, feminine voice asked a Flareon, a small group of three were laying under the brush taking shelter from the rain, “It’s really scary…” The child-like voice said before hiding back in the warmth and protections of her mother’s fur.

“It means Arceus is sad, and the rain is his tears, Haruki-chan,” The Flareon said back to her warmly, nuzzling her gently as the small Eevee child huddled next to another small Eevee who was fast asleep.

“What’s he said about?” The Eevee asked, snuggling up next to her mother again.

“Well, you’ll have to ask him that? It’s best if you sleep, Arceus will be in a better mood tomorrow,” Flareon smiled, the Eevee nodded and closed her eyes but she could feel something poking her consistently which kept her from sleeping.

-----

The twins half-opened their eyes to the Absol-man poking them in an attempt wake them up. The Umbreon girl was awake now too, the two could vaguely make out the Absol leaving through a window, and the Umbreon girl getting dressed.

“I wonder if she’ll like the dress I picked out…..” Haruki mumbled before rubbing her eyes

“More like conned off someone….” Haruko said groggily.

The two noticed the Umbreon girl hopping through the window as well, Haruki and Haruko followed them, they had nowhere else to go, and no one else to go to. The two thought it would be best to stick with them for now. Upon climbing out the window they noticed the Umbreon girl bleeding.

One of the stitches must have torn. There was nothing they could do now. Groggily the twins attempted to help the girl up using there eight year old might, “This is why you shouldn’t be so rough with yourself, miss,” Haruko scolded her gently.

Haruki turned to the scary looking man, she rubbed her eyes still very sleepy, “Mister, what are we going to do now? One of the ladies stitches has ripped and we don’t have any medical supplies…” She asked him gently tugging his hand, “Couldn’t we loot a bit of supplies from the hospital first..?”

Quickly enough, NightSlash noticed that after some moments, the Umbreon girl had decided to edge closer to the window sill and jump down. It all happened so fast. Not only had she managed to dress up in what seemed like a bulky attire relatively promptly, but she barely hesitated as it came to jumping, even though she was way more damaged than the Absol male.

The lass landed abruptly and let out a piercing yelp. Absol flinched. Almost immediately, he noticed that blood began to scroll down her torso and legs, for she had crushed the newly-made punctures. Oh, he could only imagine the pain. Fortunately for him, something of that nature didn’t occur to him, but she wasn’t as stitched up as she was. Concerned, Slash took a couple of steps closer to the girl, and he was about to help her get up when the two Eevee twins flew down and landed between him and the female. The Absol just stepped back for the kids to recover ground, but they were nowhere nearly as hurt as him or Venomous. Two couple surrounded the girl and helped her up as she winced in pain.

The boy gently chastised her, even though she did something that was necessary, while the little girl took his hand once again and begged him to search for supplies. Slash was hesitant. It was suicide to go back in. But she was just a little girl, she wouldn’t understand. Still, the Absol briefly let go of her and approached Venomous, slightly moving Haruko out of the way. He fully helped her up as their gazes met and he began to examine her wounds. She’d live, and it was nothing that couldn’t be fixed with some bandages. Absol remembered that earlier today, she had tried to do something for him… He could only do the same.

“Kid,” he commanded Haruko, “stay here.”

The PokeMorphs finally got to hear Absol’s human voice, a deep, imposing tone. He gently tapped Haruki’s head as he took her hand once again and then walked out of the alley they found themselves in. Turning left, he once again found himself in the entrance. He kneeled down, closer to Haruki, so he could speak quietly.

“You see that right there?” He asked as he pointed his long finger at a small, red cabinet dangling from a wall.

“That’s where they keep medkits and potions.” The little red box was too high for Haruki to reach.

“I need you to distract the nurse while I fetch that. After that, we walk out back to your brother and heal the girl. Got it?”

NightSlash took a step into the automated glass door, allowing Haruko to walk in first as he barrel-rolled to the darkest corner of the room. As the nurse’s eyes shifted to the youngling, the male stood up and silently walked over to the red box. Much to his demise, it had a strange metal object with rare symbols that prevented him from opening it. Truth was, it was a padlock. Anxious, he began to examine it and realized that the wheels with the strange symbols turned. After only one scroll on each wheel, the padlock opened. Super Luck. A soft click ensued his victory as he opened the red box and pulled out a small red pouch with a white cross in the front. Slash headed out again, signaling Haruko with a tap on the front door so they would leave.

It had been only a couple of minutes before the four were reunited again. NightSlash gave the pouch for Haruko to hold as he reached in for a super potion and bandages. The Absol kid was no medic, but there was nothing a few sprays from the red liquid wouldn’t heal. Slash sprayed the broken stitches on her leg and arms, cringing as he did because he knew they’d sting or burn.

“Shh… I’m sorry…” He softly soothed her as he proceeded to crookedly wrap a bandage around the damaged areas. Taking her in his arms, he sat the Umbreon girl against a wall. They were safe inside that alley, at least for a couple of minutes. He sat down as well, taking the medical pouch and putting him in between his legs. “Are you… are you Pokémon too?” He asked to his group of 3 in dismay. The answer was obvious, but they needed to get that out of the way and know each other if they were going to be moving together.

Soon after her courageous little freefall, Venomous found herself surrounded. Though she had never in her life been either a wild Pokemon or an abandoned stray, Venomous became acutely aware of a disturbance in her energy, some kind of higher consciousness of herself bidding her to raise her arms in protection of herself. So Venomous' arms flew over her head and she retracted into a smaller, more compact version of herself there on the pavement as the twins' hands groped all over her bare arms. What might've seemed like an ordinary survival instinct to other beings was a luxury for Venomous, for in her past life, the one where the dirt Dante walked on was worth more than she was, if Venomous dared use defensive maneuvers on herself, she was lashed a hundred times harder than any Vine Whip would inflict on her. Time seemed to lag as Venomous sat huddled, expecting only the worse, but then resumed to normal again when instead of attacked she was helped to her feet by the children.

"This is why you shouldn't be so rough with yourself, miss", the little Eevee scolded gently, an oddly genuine concern blazing in his coppery eyes.

What, this? It's but a flesh wound. Venomous thought absently, glancing in what she believed was a discreet manner down the front of her dress after casually pulling it down. She wore no brassiere, for these types of unmentionables hadn't been included in the meager offering of her new outfit, nor did she know that she was missing out on anything. Sure, she had had a Human in the past, but he was a male human, and she had never once been out of her Pokeball while he was undressing. Now that her shirt was down and her naked chest was exposed, it was revealed to the three others just how badly the stitches were wrecked. At least half a dozen of the carefully stitched lacerations had again ruptured, and a stream of blood trickled quietly down to her andominal region, merging in places to create a larger stream and creating an almost tribal pattern on her body.

"Mister, what are we going to do now? One of the lady's stiches has ripped and we don't have any medical supplies.." She whined, an uncontainable yawn ripping out of her tiny mouth and distorting her other facial features. A glimpse of abnormally long Canines was afforded to Venomous, and she realized then how ferocious the little girl was. Ferociously cute, that is.

Both the Absol and the Eevee wordlessly glanced over to assess Venomous for what seemed like the fifteenth time in that day, and were afforded a rather attractive view of Venomous craning her too-short human neck down to her chest and stretching her tongue out as far as it would reach in a futile attempt to reach the first of the burst seams. The Absol still said nothing, but slowly began to make his way toward Venomous. She froze in her actions, unaware of how ridiculous she looked in this new body, and instead flinched. (It wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility, after all, since he too was a dark type. ) She squeezed her Ruby eyes shut, and let her head hang slack, submitting almost immediately. But the male had no apparent interest in domination. Rather, he extended a callused weatherworn paw down and gripped Venomous' more slender one. Peering at him through the slit of one eye, she noticed his claws, no wait, his nails, were blackened, and were grazing her own. He pulled her completely to a proper bipedal position, and turned to the male child of the group.

"Kid", He dictated in a deep, Alpha tone that begged to be defied. It was then that Venomous noticed that the only color that had managed to permeate the grimness of this boy's appearance were the rubious one of his irises which glinted ominously in tihs shady alleyway.

"Stay here." He touched his massive paw to the little girl's tiny one, and together they set off down the alleyway. Venomous wanted to run to him and stop him, thank him, tell him that it was completely unnecessary, that she had been forced to endure far, far worse for longer quantities of time, to bid him to hurry, anything, anything in the world but this blasted silence! Alas, no words came to mind as she watched the duo set off down the lightless path which was but one tributary to the huge splendorous revelry that was the city. Eventually, they were swallowed whole by the sickening spectacle of artifical light and commercialization, and the other twin and Venomous were left alone.

The boy had turned away from Venomous so that his back was facing her, and the disappearance of his daintier sister seemed to have altered his demeanor entirely.

"Damnit, Haruki. Always so trusting of people." He muttered darkly, to which he turned a bit, compromising by offering up a side profile of himself to the Umbreon female.

Trust...

"C'mon, Venom. You do trust me, don't you girl?" The sunny, carefree chuckle of Dante's was the melody that Venomous' heart beat to. A mischievous grin from that boy, a playful wink, and Venomous would've crawled belly down over a bed of hot coals as big as the Sinnoh region for that boy. But this so-called exercise carried not just the threat of searing pain, but also of a most untimely death. Dante had laid the half decayed body of a fallen tree across the narrowed part of a tumultous river that eventually led to one of the most impressive Waterfalls in Sinnoh. Dante had hiked over to the other side, Sona and Kai at his heels, but had commanded his little Eevee superstar in training to remain on the opposite side. The wait alone, the fearing of her naive little heart that Dante would keep walking and never come back, wouldn't even look back for one final time at her were some of Venomous' most popular nightmares. But these were silly, unrequited terrors. At least she had thought so back then in her youth. Upon arriving at the other side, Dante had gone through all measures of coaxing, cooing, and commanding to get Venomous to walk the length of the rotten log, but she wouldn't comply. Which brings us to the present day.

Trust.

"You do trust me, don't you?"

Over and over again, Venomous saw her trainer's face. Square and masculine, cleft chin, aristocratic nose. Eyes the salty color of brooding sea foam.. But they hadn't always been. At this point in time, they were as bright and as lucky as two four-leafed shamrocks. Of course she trusted him. She trusted him with every fiber of her being. But after four seemingly easy, effortless steps, her heart plummeted. Her miniscule little paw, driven by the weight of her body, had pushed through the soft, malleable wood, causing her to lose her balance and flail wildly, it taking only seconds for the teacup sized Pokemon to flop dramatically into the water. Much too weak to even dare fighting against the ferocity of the hellbent current, Venomous had been swept along easily, screaming monosyllabic cries of horror in the process. But Dante hadn't hesitated. Stripping himself of his shirt, he dove without a moments' hesitation in after her. It took him a good thirty seconds to propel himself with the momentum needed to reach her, but before she knew it, she was safe again in his arms, cradled against his broad, sturdy chest.

"I'm so sorry, Venom. I swear to Arceus, nothing bad like this will ever happen to you again."

She whimpered and her eyes flooded with tears. It was then that she noticed that she was in the spotlight, the male twin watched her with the attentiveness of a watch Growlithe. She made no move to disguise her woe, for Pokemon are unaccustomed to the habitual deceptiveness practiced by fearful people. Instead she let the crystalline tears run hot down her face.

"I never understood what I possibly could've done to make him hate me so damn much." She whispered, the first time she had used her newfound speech, more to herself than to anyone.

"Bad things too often happen to good people. My mother had us young and raised me and Haruki to the best of her ability, but in the end, she received nothing for her selflessness. Instead she was slaughtered by a mindless beast.. A monster." The boy spat bitterly, his copper-colored eyes first misting, and then beginning to rapidly accumulate more moisture as he continued speaking.

"I'm sorry.." She murmured, astounded, but continued with what was on her mind. "I kind of wish now that I had shared her fate. I know nothing about being a Human! I barely even knew how to function as a Pokemon. How in the hell am I going to survive out on the streets?!" She hadn't noticed it, but anxiety had begun mounting in her voice and her words were cracking with nervousness as she spoke. The fellow human had noticed however, and he calmly lay a hand on her quaking shoulder.

"Take it one day at a time," were his sagely words, and before Venomous could respond, she heard an ear shatteringly merry voice scream out:

"Hey, Haruko! Big lady! WE'RE BACK!" In jovial triumph, before they both glanced up to see the female twin careening towards the both of them at full speed. The Absol's long stride afforded him the ability to be able to keep up with the ecstatic Haruki though she ran at what was breakneck speed for her and he only walked briskly. Soundlessly, he appeared at Venomous' side. She surveyed him wordlessly in response, allowing her somber, still puffy eyes to do all the talking for her. She made no move to either bolt from him as he withdrew a potion from the pouch, and as a subtle thanks for her appreciation, even moved toward him eagerly to receive the doctoring. She felt no creeping embarrassment as he pulled down the corset of her dress, witness to the naked spectacle of her chest, and began dousing her wounds with the liquid.

Venomous at once attempted to squirm away, and yelped an evident cry of pain, withdrawing instinctively from the source but finding herself cornered against a dirty cement wall. Instead, she leaned on him, the top of her head pressed against his chest, using him as sturdy foundation to brace herself against the pain. Unsure of what to do, he awkwardly held her with his spare hand.

"Shh...I'm sorry..." He crooned soothingly, attempting to alleviate simultaneously the visible anguish she expressed and his own impending guilt. But this only served to remind her of that promise her human had made and how fickle of a promise it had been. She was bandaged, and then folded into the Absol's long, lanky arms. She didn't protest, only leaned gratefully into him, soaking up the kind benevolence of his touch. For a moment, she was able to forget all the stressors and rigors of the day as her expired memory of affection was at least renewed. He sat her down against a wall, and crouched on his haunches before her. He seemed at a loss for what to do, despite his apparent strength despairing just like the rest of them. Venomous offered him a sympthetic stare.

"Are you... are you Pokemon too?" He asked tentatively, and Venomous knew that he felt vulnerable and perhaps even a bit dumb treading on such unfamiliar, unexplored terrain. She couldn't stand at the top of the precipice and just watch him anymore.

"Yes." She responded boldly, affirming her response as absolute truth by making eye contact, a gesture that had been taboo for most of her evolved life lest she want the submission beaten back into her.

"Believe it or not, I haven't always been this big." She declared nervously, shaking but winking at Haruki, an obvious reference to the less than flattering nickname the oblivious child had tagged her with. Once again, she turned to Slash, and with this transition, grew more serious.

"I'm Venomous, and I used to be an Umbreon." She offered, expecting nothing in return, not any information from this mysteriously savage yet elegant white haired creature, but hoping that he and the twins would volunteer some kind of insight anyways. It seemed likely that more than the powers of chance had brought this unlikely little group together, and Venomous was desperate to find out what kind of powers these were.

Haruki looked at the man almost pleadingly, they couldn’t have the women travel while she was bleeding, and more importantly it would cause her pain. Haruki didn’t want the women to be in pain, so she pleaded with the man.

The man glanced at her brother and the women soundlessly and then approached her brother, “Kid,” he commanded Haruko, “stay here.” Haruko nodded and turned to the women who had absently pulled down the dress to see the extent of the damage; several of the stiches had ripped and were now causing a crimson liquid to run down her chest. Haruki also noticed this was the first time she had heard the scary man’s voice which wasn’t actually all that scary. It was deep and imposing, sure, but Haruki also thought it had a sincere gentleness to it. Maybe he wasn’t actually all that scary? Maybe he was actually really nice and kind, like a gentle giant?

The man turned to her and took her hand and walked out of the alleyway to the entrance with her, he then pointed to a red box hanging on the wall on the inside of the hospital, “You see that right there?” Haruki nodded, “That’s where they keep medkits and potions.” The little red box was too high for Haruki to reach.

“I need you to distract the nurse while I fetch that. After that, we walk out back to your brother and heal the girl. Got it?” He asked her, she nodded.

“I can distract, leave it to me!” Her tail wagged with enthusiasm and she flashed a reliable grin. The automated glass doors opened. Haruki entered first while the man barrel-rolled to the side keeping out of sight. Haruki approached the nurse, tugged on her dress and smiled.

“Nurse lady~” She smiled, the women gave a smile back and asked her what she wanted, “Wanna all the funny face I can make?”

The women sniggered a bit and sighed, “Sure, kid, what do you have?”

She put her hands to her face and started making a gesture of random faces, ranging from a “fish face” to a “cat face”. There nurse chuckled at the small child’s efforts. Anyone had to admit that Haruki was very cute and her charms could not be resisted.

“And this is my dinosaur face! Raaaaaaaaarggggghhhh!” She said turning her hands into “claws”. The nurse gave a genuine laugh and pats the girl on the head.

“My, my, aren’t you just the cutest little thing!” The nurse said, Haruki’s tail wagged at the compliment, this is when Haruki noticed Slash tapping on the window outside signaling he had got the supplies.

“Those were my faces, now I must be going! Bye~!” She exclaimed, rushing out the glass door, leaving the confused nurse all alone.

---Meanwhile---

Haruko watched his sister follow the man to get supplies, he grit his teeth in anger, "Damn it, Haruki. Always so trusting of people," He muttered darkly, to which he turned a bit, compromising by offering up a side profile of himself to the female. His eyes were filled with an indescribable feeling, a mixture of anger and frustration for his older twin. It was easy to say Haruko acted completely different with the absence of Haruki, he acted less cynical when his sister was around because she reminded him that the world was not all bad and not all filled with disgusting people.

Haruko examined the girl, she was in her own thoughts of sorts, caught up in what appeared to be a memory. Haruko couldn’t tell if it was good or bad all he could say was, “Hey, stay with me now! Don’t leave me here alone while you go to lalaland,” but she didn’t seem to hear him. After a few moments crystal tears started flooding from the girls eyes which caught Haruko off guard. He didn’t know what to say, so he merely stood there eyeing her silently.

"I never understood what I possibly could've done to make him hate me so damn much." She whispered. Haruko was surprised at the tone of her voice. It was filled with a mixture of sadness, frustration and just exhaustion. Haruko remembered the time Haruki had used this tone, and he never wanted to hear her use it again, because to him, when she was sad, it seemed that the whole world was sad.

He could remember her voice that sounded so broken and he soon felt his eyes frosting over, tears threatening to fall from his eyes, "Bad things too often happen to good people. My mother had us young and raised me and Haruki to the best of her ability, but in the end, she received nothing for her selflessness. Instead she was slaughtered by a mindless beast... A monster," Haruko said this with a malice that he had not intended to; in fact he had not intended to speak of his mother at all. The wound of watching his mother be mercilessly slaughtered by the likes of a mindless beast was still very fresh.

"I'm sorry...” She murmured, "I kind of wish now that I had shared her fate. I know nothing about being a Human! I barely even knew how to function as a Pokémon. How in the hell am I going to survive out on the streets?!”

Haruko took notice of the anxiety in her voice, sighed, and then placed his hand on her shoulder, "Take it one day at a time," were his kind words, the girl was about to respond when a chipper voice rang out

“Haruko! Big lady! WE’RE BACK!” Haruki said in triumph running as fast as she could, the man behind her kept up with her by simply walking briskly. Haruki ran to Haruko and glomped him with all her might; he had to use all his might to stay on balance, “I was a good distraction, yes I was~ the lady did not even notice Mr. Scary man getting the supplies~”

Haruko’s face softened and he pat his sister on his head, “Because you’re just made up of concentrated cuteness, Haruki-chan,” Haruko smiled at his sister and hugged her tighter.

After the women’s wounds were treated the man turned to the group and asked a simple yet obvious question, “Are you… are you Pokémon too?” He asked in dismay, the twins looked at him silently.

"Yes." The women responded boldly, affirming her response as absolute truth by making eye contact, she then turned to Haruki, “Believe it or not, I didn’t used to be this big!” She winked at Haruki who looked at her curiously.

“Reaaaaalllly?” She said, her voice filled with utter awe.

"I'm Venomous, and I used to be an Umbreon," She offered, this made the twins freeze and their faces to pale. Haruki buried her face in her brother’s chest for a moment. Haruko pat his sister on the head, trying to assuage her fears.

“Shhh, Haruki, I’m sure not all of them are that way,” Haruko said soothingly, “I am Haruko, and she is Haruki, we were once both Eevee’s,” Haruko offered still holding his sister whose face was still buried in his chest, “A pleasure to finally learn your name, Miss, what about you Mister? What’s your name?” Haruko offered calmly, the possibility that they were all traveling together would be high and Haruko worried how Haruki would take to traveling with a person who was once an Umbreon.

Haruko’s eyes shifted to Venomous, he mouthed a short apology for his sister’s behavior to her, no more, no less.

NightSlash was now unsure on whether that was the answer he wanted to hear or not. It hit him like a rock. The bleak answer emanating from the girl’s mouth pierced his mind and messed it up inside.

"Believe it or not, I haven't always been this big,” she played with the Eevee twin in a genuinely uneasy tone. Once again, her crimson gaze met Slash’s when she spoke.

"I'm Venomous, and I used to be an Umbreon."

Unsurprising, that yellow ring on her forehead was anything but inconspicuous. But still… Really? Was this girl really a former Pokémon, like Slash, or was she just toying around with him? Maybe it was all a secret government brainwash program, or some odd hidden camera show. Slash was flabbergasted, his eyes widened and his mouth nearly dropped. So it was true…

“I am Haruko, and she is Haruki.”

Creative.

“We were once both Eevee’s. A pleasure to finally learn your name, Miss.”

The tails told them off, but wow, these two younglings were also part of this? What sick, twisted mind could’ve involved kids in this awkward experiment? Slash was lost in thought. Had he ever held a relationship with this other beings, perhaps? Dunno, he never interacted with many Pokémon, let alone Eevee or its evolutionary family, which aren’t common in the wild. Why him, why them, and why now? The male mindlessly paced his stare back and forth from the keen kids to the panicked lass before the male Eevee boy stopped his stream of consciousness.

“What about you Mister? What’s your name?”

“M—… My name…”

Slash hesitated. NightSlash was a self given name, he never had any trainer to give him the name, not even a nurse or wandering bystander that gave stray animals nicknames. It came in due to his favorite move being so, although it now hit him that applying the attack would be tougher with his preened fingernails.

“My name is NightSlash, Slash for short.”

Those were the only words the Absol managed to articulate after some moments of obvious internal struggle. He didn’t know what to do.

“Do you guys know what’s going on..? Why did we become human? I just woke up this morning and…”

NightSlash was preparing himself to ask some questions, for he knew not that the others were just as, if not more lost than him, when a thud was heard inside the PokémonCenter. A door slammed open.

“Nurse! I think they’re gone!”

NightSlash’s heart skipped a beat. The room wasn’t at all big, and if anything, the person that walked in had already noticed the open window, the empty clothes rack and the blood drippings leading outside. The Absol looked to the sides, scared. One led to a dead end, a wall, and the other one into Jubilife’s main street. Oh, was he familiar with this situations; more than once had a massive tumult cornered him against a corner and beat him senseless after some house fire an idiot housewife caused by forgetting about the stove while she spoke on the phone. Despite all his sad stories, each one of them with an even more distressing ending, he had never been used to reacting under pressure. All he knew how to do was run. Run and run until the next crowed crossed his path. It was no easy life, but he never thanked anyone for that. He got scared, but then he looked at his companion. The Eevee twins were huddled against each other, apparently fearing Venomous, who was, in the other hand, cringing from her wounds while lying against a wall and the floor. There was little time to think.

Slash stood up in a rush and closed up to Venomous, collocating her arm around his and over his shoulder and helping her up.

“Twins!” He yelled commandingly, for a moment forgetting the fact that the people inside the room would hear. “Let’s move! We have to stay together until we figure out what to do.”

Slash darted out of the alley, taking Haruko’s hand until they were in the main street and trusting he’d hold Haruki close. A second later, there they were. Heavy traffic, bright lights, car horns, music, and lots, lots of people. Hell.

“We have to take cover somewhere.” Slash told himself as he looked around. Jubilife looked so different from this point of view. Slash began to look around for some dark place or abandoned building, but his sight was blurry from the thrill and adrenaline. Also, the fact that the doctor that restrained him not too long ago skipped out the window and yelled “There they are!” didn’t help. It was just then when he noticed a construction lot west of the Jubilife TV station, where a show was being recorded outside.

“Over there!” He told the twins as he began to dash forward, now escaping from a following huntsman. Venomous, however, was becoming an encumbrance. He didn’t even know whether she was able to run or not, but the effects of the super potion were still fresh, and he didn’t want to risk it, so he found it very easy to pick her up, placing his arm behind her knees and maintaining the arm that was already in place in position.

Once the foursome were in front of Jubilife TV station, the Absol let the twins go through the crowd to push a way open for Venomous and him. The blended in with the ruckus, and their dark attires seemed to help a bit. It allowed them to lose the hospital worker as the made their way through the frame of a doorway on the unfinished, concrete building. It was really dark and cold, but it should hold ground a while. He gathered the group in a corner, sitting Venomous down.

“What the hell is going on~!?”

Slash shrieked as he turned around, slamming the concrete with a closed fist and then leaning closer to the wall, face first. He was about to have an emotional breakdown, and even though the question was more emotional than anything, he actually expected an answer from the group.

It simply amazed Venomous, this newfound level of emotional discomfort. In an attempt to actually take a chance for once and turn over a new personal leaf, she had admitted what should have been painstakingly obvious anyways: that she was an Umbreon. Now she sat feeling vulnerable and larger than life, embarrassed and ashamed of her confession as one of the children, the female Eevee quaked, staring at Venomous in mute horror as if she had just sprouted horns and grown fangs. The male Eevee was visably shaken, but he seemed more conscientious of his emotional display than his sister, and instead responded in an unstable voice.

"I am Haruko, and she is Haruki. We were once both Eevees. A pleasure to finally learn your name, miss." He spoke, though his oratation didn't reveal his pleasure. Venomous, getting the sneaking suspicion that she had said too much, didn't speak, only nodded in the direction of the Eevee boy, her humiliation barring her from locking gazes with Haruki at this moment in time. Venomous was still a little shell-shocked about this whole experience. She hardly wondered at Haruko's testimony about his and Haruki's past life because she was still unsure how readily she believed that this was happening to herself. The closing curtain on her life had been the relatively discreet mauling of her by her parents. She had felt the life flow ebb out of her, had felt her body yielding to the void of the afterlife. It seemed highly unrealistic and a bit too hopeful to imagine that this was more than a surreal dream while she waited for judgement day.

But then again, perhaps she was being paranoid and faeries did exist, and Santa Claus was real and the Easter Bunny did lay chocolate eggs on Easter after all.

Venomous snapped back to the present day, forgetting her wool-gathering as she tuned in to Haruko asking the mysterious fourth member of their party about himself. Venomous wasn't sure why, but every time this man came into question and it was time for him to speak, her heart started hammering wildly like it was trying to escape the confines of her ribcage. It wasn't exactly the nauseous butterflies of infatuation, but more like an innate nervousness of his physical capabilities. Venomous hadn't had the best of experiences with grown men.

"M-My name..." He seemed hesitant at first, and Venomous rapidly began to fear that he would lie to them. In such a new larval human state, she wasn't sure if she could take any treachery on anyone's part this early on, at least not from the other Pokehumans she had forged a few fragile bonds with, and so she fixated her rubious eyes on his own, lending him a woeful stare. Finally, he relented.

"My name is NightSlash, Slash for short." Venomous breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing crude or relatively emotionally scathing had come out of his mouth in response, and she was grateful for that. Not that she had been given any sort of indication that Slash was a ruthless D-bag, but after an experience like her own, one couldn't be too careful. Now that all danger of any lashing out had passed, she had a couple moments to ruminate over his name. Slash. She liked it. It fit the boy with the fierce, untamable crimson eyes like a glove, and she had the instinct that she wouldn't easily forget it. But now that he had extended his own olive branch, Slash decided to immediately get down to business. He didn't waste time.

"Do you guys know what's going on? Why did we become human? I just woke up this morning and..."

Venomous appreciated his civility and so had leaned forward to earnestly contemplate his questions, despite her not knowing that she would be of no assistance whatsoever in answering them when she heard the unmistakable wedging of a door handle into hollow plaster. She near jumped out of her skin and flattened herself as close to the wall as humanly possible.

"Nurse! I think they're gone!" Her eyes nearly bulged out of her skull when she heard the panicked roar of the doctor who had invaded her body with his intravenous fluids, the painful Ivs and relentless jabbing of needles, and the sensation covered her arms, legs, chest, and abdomen again and again as her brain began pumping full of adrenaline. Shakily, she attempted to stand, reacting seemingly quicker than the others. Slash, Haruki, and Haruko had frozen momentarily, but sh had the feeling that once they got going, they would quickly surpass her and she would be left struggling to keep up with the pack. She didn't want to be a burden, so she forced herself up bipedal, and leaned against the cold cement wall to recover. She noticed that Slash, like her, also seemed to be turning over the possibilities of this enraged human's course of action, and he seemed to be able to comprehend just as much if not more than her about the depth and range of human wrath.

"Look! The window! They've escaped!"

Venomous couldn't help letting out an anguished whimper, wondering to herself why she had ever been taken to the hospital in the first place. It had caused nothing but hassle for her and Slash, and she felt passionately that she much rather would've bled out on the grass than pursued by ill-intentioned humans. It seemed that her inevitable death was forever being prolonged, and that her circumstances would never allow her to fully be at peace. Slash jumped to his feet, and quickly skimmed the the faces of Venomous, Haruki, and Haruko.

"Dammit... We've gotta go... We've gotta go, let's hide!" He suggested urgently, to which Venomous would've happily obliged if she could. She didn't want to let on about her semi-crippled status though, so she just nodded. But before she even had the chance to try her hand at faking her ability, Slash moved in on her, his body so close that she could hear the pounding of his heart, smell the raw testosterone his powerful body was giving off, and then stretching her feeble arm over his shoulder to help support her body weight. Venomous' first instinct was to flinch away from his and curl herself into a ball to hel pward off any incoming blows, she she swallowed this fear and stayed close to him, putting on a brave face while he ordered the twins to follow them.

He hoisted her out of the mouth of the alley, and as they stood on a rather steep curve which, at the slightest misstep would offer them as sacrifice to the unending stream of vehicular nightlife, took Haruko's hand. He in turn took Haruki's, and the four oddballs hovered on the concrete precipice, miscolored eyes glancing around for an opening, any opening. It was then that by some unimaginable stroke of fortune Slash's gaze settled on a brightly lit clearing, on which stood a fresh upheaval of earth and a crowd of people in the midst of an ongoing news broadcast. Of course, Venomous didn't realize all this, and to her it just looked like a random mass congregation of people, which frightened her silly.

"Over there!" Slash ordered vindictively, and though Venomous' head swam with the sensory overload of people cajoling in the streets, the obnoxious honking of horns, shrill sqealing of breaks and the frightening "vroom" of motorists gunning their cars, she had no choice but to attend Slash as she limped along. Her face contracted in pain as Slash surged forward to suddenly and a slight yelp emitted from her seemed to attract his attention, but there was no stopping now. The aforementioned doctor was in hot pursuit of the crew, and didn't seem to want to give up the foursome readily. So Slash swooped Venomous up bridal style, his strong arms finding their way just beneath her knees and tucking her in close to his chest to balance her while he picked up speed, falling behind Haruko and Haruki and then plunging into the crowd of people they had spied from the distance. Venomous squeezed her eyes shut to prevent herself from having a coronary at all the loud, indiscreet conversation, at the noisy shouting and cheering, and the overly exaggerated shuffling and stomping and clapping and slapping and waving of their limbs. Her nose was still flooded with activity though and she picked up the musky, the downright funky, the sweet sickly fruity, and the artifical flowery barrage of scents. She found her hand crawling up to Slash's shoulder and squeezing it lightly to relieve some of the inner suffocation she felt, and was thankful when the noise from the crowd lessened and the air temperature around her dropped drastically.

It was only after Slash had carefully positioned her up against a second sturdy, unmoving wall that Venomous ventured to crack open her eyes.

"What the hell is going on?!" Slash roared, finally losing his calm and venting as he turned around, slamming a huge balled fist into the concrete wall adjacent to the one Venomous leaned against. As the fist made contact, the concrete gave way, bits of it disintigrating to the floor as Slash's knuckles drove into it. The sudden flurry of movement and escalation of emoton into rage caused Venomous to shy away from the man, gooseflesh appearing all over her arms and legs. She immediately balled up, burying her face into her lap, waiting for the physical assault on herself to begin. When it didn't come, she tentatively peeked up at Slash. He seemed to hold no interest whatsoever in further expressing his confusion and disbelief, and now instead leaned tiredly against the wall. Venomous couldn't help but notice that the fist that had been driven so definitely into the wall hung uselessly at his side now, his knuckles busted, dripping a steady stream of his blood, his fuel. Venomous' own hand had begun to swell in response. Venomous, terrified for her life, at first decided to ignore it, but after some long moments of feeling the Absol's pain, sensing his utter desolation and agony, crawled quietly to his side, praying that he wouldn't hear or notice her. Wrapping her tiny hand over his massive one as best as she was able, she squeezed and squeezed, until the blood coagulated, the wounds closed, and the formerly broken knuckles were only flushed pink in response to the pressure of her squeezing hand. Drawing her hand away from is, stained with the discreet evidence that his knuckles had been bashed at all, Venomous, feeling a little more tired but a lot better about herself, weakly crawled away.

“M—… My name…” The man hesitated slightly, Haruko’s eyes narrowed at him before turning his attention to the panicked Haruki. Haruki had removed her head from Haruko’s chest and was silently eyeing Venomous in silent horror. He could feel his sister shivering, he took his sisters hand and gently smiled at her at this Haruki seemed to calm down just a little bit, but he could still see she was unable to look Venomous in the eye. “My name is NightSlash, Slash for short,” The man’s voice snapped Haruko out of his thoughts, “Do you guys know what’s going on..? Why did we become human? I just woke up this morning and…”

The twins shook their head, they had no idea what was going on, “We too woke up as humans, sorry, we can’t answer any questions,” Haruko said, Haruki remained silent, still eyeing Venomous in silent terror. Haruko could tell the man was just about to ask a few more questions of his own when a loud voice echoed through their ears.

"Nurse, I think they're gone!" A voice pierced the darkness that put the entire group on their guard. Haruko let out a loud ‘pffft’ sound and then turned to his sister.

“It seems we’ve been found out Haruki-chan~” He said with a childish tone, which caused the spooked girl to giggle. Haruki wasn’t quite sure why just hearing Haruko’s voice cheered her up but any fear had been wiped off her face and she was now giggling with a big grin on her face.

“Haruko doesn’t sound right with a girl voice~” Haruki responded with a smile.

"Look! The window! They've escaped!" The nurse roared causing both the twins to smirk and clutch each other’s hands tighter.

“But I want to ‘play’ with the nurses! Don’t you, Haruko?” Haruki asked her brother who nodded in response.

“They seem like fun people to ‘play’ with~” Haruko grinned.

Slash said nothing at first but instead picked up the injured Venomous in a hurry and then turned to them, “Twins!” He yelled commandingly, for a moment forgetting the fact that the people inside the room would hear, “Let’s move! We have to stay together until we figure out what to do.”

Slash darted out of the alley, taking Haruko’s hand until they were in the main street and trusting he’d hold Haruki close. A second later, there they were. Heavy traffic, bright lights, car horns, music, and lots, lots of people, much like their mother had described to them once.

“Uwah~ So pretty~ Like one big rainbow!” Haruki complimented all the flashing lights as Haruko kept a tight grip on her hand.

“Over there!” He told the twins as he began to dash forward, the twins followed close behind. The two were quite quick at running, especially when it came to fleeing. They could always escape no matter what, which could be attributed to their ability “Run Away”. After a good amount of running the group stopped in front of Jubilife T.V. station. Everyone was certain they had lost their pursuers, “What the hell is going on~!?” Slash screamed slamming the concrete with his bare fists causing a stream of blood to run down his bare knuckles. Venomous rushed silently to his side and took his hand and engulfed in a light.

The blood slowly stopped, and soon the wound disappeared altogether.

“How cool~ Venomous-chan is like a white mage from a story book!” Haruki smiled at the women.

“What’s a white mage, Haruki?” Haruko asked, Haruki pointed to the book she had obtained at the book store, Haruko grabbed it and stared, “This is that book you got from the lady at the book store, right?”

“Yes~! It’s a book that teaches how to read human language using a story. The main character is a magician who heals people!” Haruki said, this caused Haruko to think for a moment. Haruko then took a step toward Slash.

“That could hold the answer to our questions,” He pointed to the book he had given back to Haruki, “Not the very book she’s holding but a place where many books are stored. A library, my mother called them. Maybe we should start our search at the only library I can think of in this region, the Canalave Library,” Haruko suggested.

“Oh, I know that place! Mama often said they had a lot of good books on old legends and stuff!” Haruki’s tail wagged as she clutched the book tight, “That’s definitely a step in the right direction!”

Those very brief moments felt endless to the young Absol boy, who ignored the blenching events taking place in his torn fist. He could only see his black boots and a strand of hair swaying down his furry scalp. A lone, salty tear fell down towards the unfinished concrete ground as Slash clenched and gritted his teeth. The other members of his party had seemed to ignore his yell, for he wished to hear an answer that would eradicate all of his questions. He didn’t even bother to turn around at the silence. His spine chilled crisp, and his breath was beginning to fade. He wanted to die at that very moment.

He felt his soul leaving his body, and it would’ve been so hadn’t he felt a tiny hand creep up to his own. The Absol opened his previously shut eyes to stare down at what was now making contact with his skin, expecting it to be some sort of bug that he’d be able to violently squash against a wall to easy his anger.

To his surprise, he instead saw Venomous crawling in front of him, having taken his deformed hand in her delicate one. She stared up at him, intimidated, as his eyes shifted to her side. Well, this was awkward. So why would she take the hand he just blatantly slammed against a wall? To hurt him even further. That was mean, and she didn’t seem like the mean type. For a minute, he stood there confused, but soon enough it all made sense. Her hands turned warm, and the hand that was cup in her fingers began to feel numb. He thought it was normal, chances were he had broken it, but it was a different type of numb. A strange feeling, some sort of energy surrounded the little room, and an aura only identifiable as the one that tried to spur out earlier that day when they were in the woods began emanating from the girl. Venomous applied pressure for some seconds before letting go, revealing a completely cured hand.

“Holy…”

Slash was stunned. He awkwardly lifted his hand up to his face and stared at it, dumbfounded. His bedazzled gaze was about to meet Venomous’, and it would’ve been so hadn’t she strangely twisted around and crawled away. This was magical, unconceivable. Why didn’t he get to keep some Pokémon powers?

“How cool! Venomous-chan is like a white mage from a story book!”

Interesting. That was an unfamiliar term; but it was beneficial for Slash in any case. The man with the healed hand approached Venomous, who was retreating quietly in a corner. He sat on his haunches, right in front of her.

“What..,” he began, confused as he brought his hand back up. “What did you just do?”

His stare was comforting, he didn’t look or sound angry in any case. The perplexity deluging his face was more than obvious, he just wanted an answer from the girl to get to know each other better. He tried to smile at her, but it only resulted in an awkward grin that exposed his Absol fangs.

“That could hold the answer to our questions!”

Huh?

The Eevee twins stepped towards Slash, interrupting his attempt at socialization. They had a jolly expression on their face, epiphany.

“Not the very book she’s holding but a place where many books are stored. A library, my mother called them. Maybe we should start our search at the only library I can think of in this region, the Canalave Library,”

“That’s definitely a step in the right direction!”

A library. Absol was familiar with the term. He had been to Canalave quite some many times, for he ferried to the other islands from that port. He hid in between the luggage, of course, for there was no way anyone would get in a ship if it was known that there was an Absol on board. Imminent catastrophe, of course. But, what was the use?

Slash didn’t want to be near people. Not quite yet; and going inside the library wasn’t at all promising.

“That’s definitely a step in the right direction!”

“We don’t even know how to read.” He said blankly as he stood up and turned around, now facing the kids. No, Haruki wasn’t going to learn how to read in one night, and didn’t want to risk being lynched while they searched for a book that they didn’t even know if it existed.

Slash looked down at the twins, whose smiles turned upside down. He didn’t’ feel like he had been rude, but they were just kids. It took him short enough to realize that the kid’s idea was much more than anything he had done, for he hadn’t suggested a thing. It was the only solution for now, but what’s more fun than brainstorming?

“We should think of something else first.”

But his head was empty. Slash walked over to the exit of the building. They were clear to go; so if they were to follow the kids’ instructions, then it was a now or never.